VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — With the exception of three nor’easters, system operations in March were relatively uneventful, PJM’s Chris Pilong told attendees at last week’s Operating Committee meeting.

Pilong reviewed the monthly operations report, noting there were no spinning reserve events during the month. The load forecasting error was 1.53% overall. The error during off-peak hours was 1.48%, 0.1% above the same metric in March 2017, but the on-peak error was 1.58%, down 0.16% from a year ago.

There were 45 excursions for a total of 99 minutes outside PJM’s frequency target range, down from 106 excursions for 257 minutes in March 2017. Unplanned outages, planned emergencies and the total outage average by percentage were all lower than the same period a year ago. The forced outage average by percentage, along with the forced and total outage averages by megawatts, were up slightly.

“We’re starting to ratchet up the planned outages,” Pilong said. In previous years, April and May have been the second- and third-highest months for outages, behind only October.

PJM estimates production-cost savings of more than $11 million in 2018, almost all of which occurred in March.

Gen Transfer Vote Postponed

PJM postponed a planned vote on approving stricter requirements for notifying the RTO about generation ownership transfers, but the RTO’s Rebecca Stadelmeyer said ongoing discussions with owners remain productive. The two sides hope to have a mutually acceptable proposal prepared for a vote at May’s OC.

Both sides recently engaged in a four-hour discussion, and a final call is scheduled for this month, Stadelmeyer said. Generation owners in February objected to rules proposed by PJM that they felt were too onerous, but at last week’s meeting, they appeared to agree that the consensus was likely. (See “Generation Transfer,” PJM MRC/MC Briefs: March 22, 2018.)

Storage

PJM’s Scott Baker highlighted progress being made by the Distributed Energy Resources Subcommittee on determining how combined storage and generation resources should measure and account for the differences between wholesale and retail power sales. The subcommittee has developed potential definitions for wholesale-retail delineations during complicated transactions, such as when a storage resource is charging from both the grid and a co-located resource and discharging to the grid while the generation resource is also injecting directly to the grid.

Baker also outlined the non-wholesale information PJM believes it needs from DERs and the communication and data-validation channels that will likely be necessary to properly oversee storage resources.

Black Start Fuel Assurance

As part of the current black start procurement, PJM is looking to add rules that ensure plants have fuel when needed. The RTO’s David Schweizer introduced a plan for “restoration fuel assurance,” which it hopes to implement in the third quarter of this year and apply to any black start resource procured after 2018.

The changes would include a transition plan for existing units, including those picked up in the current procurement. The plan will also address fuel-assurance issues — including dual-fuel capability, onsite fuel storage and units having connections to multiple gas lines — and compensation mechanisms.

Schweizer said he received preliminary proposals from 90 different sites in its current procurement, which PJM undertakes every five years. Staff have sent notifications for detailed proposals to about 25 of the 90. PJM is planning to award contracts to any successful proposals by the end of May. There are currently about 150 black start units RTO-wide.

Schweizer said the new rules are in response to the fleet becoming significantly more gas-heavy. He noted that the current rules require that black start units be back online within three hours, and that gas travels in pipelines at 20 mph on average. Gas pipeline operators have assured the RTO that the lines are packed sufficiently to supply black start units if necessary, but “increased reliance on natural gas means increased need for black start ability,” he said.

CIR Revisions

PJM’s Jerry Bell presented additional analysis on summer performance of wind and solar units and how that relates to providing capacity injection rights (CIRs). The work is part of PJM’s ongoing effort to revise Manual 21, which covers procedures for determining changes to generators’ capability. (See “Limiting Meetings Causing Stakeholder Strain,” PJM PC/TEAC Briefs: March 8, 2018.)

Bell said staff analysis found that the average peak hour, which is used for determining capability, is a good approximation of the median for solar units but not for wind. The study found that average wind performance during the peak hour of demand is likely to reflect the actual amount of production only 36% of the time. The median was about half as much, and wind production was zero in two of every seven peak summer hours, Bell said.

For the May OC meeting, PJM plans to provide more analysis on whether the current June-August testing period is appropriate, and if simultaneous testing would be more indicative of the true capability of plants that have common load spread across multiple units.

Stakeholders remained skeptical of the potential changes, noting concerns that ranged from how unit testing will be conducted, to whether there’s an appeals process for PJM’s determinations, to how the rights planned for units in the interconnection queue would be handled if they are not brought online before the rules change.

PMUs to Monitor IROLs

PJM is considering using its growing synchrophasor network to monitor interconnection reliability operating limits (IROLs). The RTO’s Shaun Murphy explained that phasor measurement units (PMUs) could offer redundant monitoring of the IROL interfaces. Past issues with PJM’s emergency management system have required manual monitoring of IROLs. Implementing the plan would require installing 14 PMUs and modifying four.

The proposal is the most recent initiative in PJM’s effort to exploit the opportunities created by its synchrophasor network. (See “Synchrophasors Backup,” PJM Operating Committee Briefs: Sept. 12, 2017.)

University Park RAS Done

Commonwealth Edison’s Alan Engelmann announced plans to end the company’s remedial action scheme at its University Park North Energy Center. The RAS will be disabled by July 1 and physically removed by the end of the year.

The plan trips generators for certain delayed-clearing multi-phase and single-phase faults to prevent instability, Engelmann said. Incremental reinforcements, such as circuit breaker replacements and protection system redundancy, have made the plan unnecessary.

— Rory D. Sweeney