Below is a summary of the issues scheduled to be brought to a vote at Thursday’s PJM Markets and Reliability Committee meeting, which will be held at the PJM Conference and Training Center and not its normal location at the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del. Each item is listed by agenda number, description and projected time of discussion, followed by a summary of the issue and links to prior coverage in RTO Insider.

RTO Insider will be in Valley Forge, Pa., covering the discussions and votes. See next Tuesday’s newsletter for a full report.

Markets and Reliability Committee

2. PJM Manuals (9:10-9:45)

Members will be asked to endorse the following proposed manual changes:

A. Manual 36: System Restoration. Revisions developed as part of the manual’s annual review; includes clarifications regarding synchro-check relays, blocking governors and black start generators.

B. Manual 3: Transmission Operations. Biannual review to update operating procedures. Revisions update remedial action schemes, sectionalizing schemes and definitions for the Cleveland and Eastern interfaces; designates voltage limits for Ohio Valley Electric Corp.’s impending integration; adds language regarding reactive reserve check submittals and clarifies notes on load shed activity.

C. Manual 11: Energy & Ancillary Services Market Operations. Revisions developed to ensure consistency between the manual and Operating Agreement regarding price-based offers of more than $1,000/MWh. The change was necessitated by FERC Order 831, which required RTOs and ISOs to raise their hard caps for verified cost-based incremental energy offers to $2,000/MWh. (See “Offer Cap Resolution,” PJM Market Implementation Committee Briefs: May 2, 2018.) Also includes conforming changes regarding bidding locations for virtual transactions.

D. Manual 14A: New Services Request Process. Annual review. Revisions developed to introduce the Queue Point software for submitting data for feasibility and system impact studies.

E. Manual 7: Protection Standards. Revisions developed by the Relay Subcommittee to add clarity, update terms and add reliability requirements.

F. Manual 14D: Generator Operational Requirements. Revisions developed to define procedures and notification deadlines for transferring ownership of generation resources. (See “Gens Get Commercial Realities into Gen Transfer Processes,” PJM Operating Committee Briefs: May 1, 2018.)

3. Cost Containment (9:45-10:25)

Members will be asked to vote on proposals to include consideration of cost-containment commitments in PJM’s analysis of transmission construction bids. This is the continuation of a discussion that was tabled for four months as stakeholders attempted to find consensus. PJM has two proposals it plans to offer, but LS Power’s proposal will be considered first since a vote on it was deferred at the January MRC. (See Cost Containment Proposal Survives; Headed to MRC.)

4. Variable Operations & Maintenance Packages (10:25-10:45)

Members will be asked to vote on proposals to change rules on submitting variable operations and maintenance (VOM) costs for recovery. Two proposals were endorsed at April’s Market Implementation Committee meeting:

• The PJM package, which was supported by a 75% vote, would allow only actual maintenance costs directly tied to electric production can be included in a unit’s incremental energy offer.
• The default VOM package, which won an 81% endorsement, would allow resources to choose between filing actual costs under the PJM package or a default value no greater than the new build data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

A third package developed by the Independent Market Monitor may also be considered. (See “VOM Proposal,” PJM Market Implementation Committee Briefs: April 4, 2018.)

5. Operating Agreement Confidentiality Provision (10:45-10:55)

Members will be asked to endorse OA revisions allowing PJM to share member confidential information with the Eastern Interconnect Data Sharing Network (EIDSN) in addition to NERC and other reliability entities. EIDSN was created in 2014 to develop industry tools that NERC has decided it no longer wants to create and maintain.

— Rory D. Sweeney