By Rory D. Sweeney

Winter Weekly Reserve Target Recommendations

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — Stakeholders at last week’s Operating Committee meeting endorsed PJM’s recommended winter weekly reserve targets, which consist of monthly values based on weekly peak load and will be used to schedule outages over the winter.

The analysis calculated maximum available reserves of 22% for December (compared to 23% last December), 28% for January (27%) and 24% for February (25%). The values are incorporated into PJM’s annual Reserve Requirement Study, which also calculates the installed reserve margin and the forecast pool requirement.

PJM’s Patricio Rocha Garrido noted that the majority of the winter reliability risk is in January, which is reflected in the higher target value in that month.

Day-ahead Scheduling Reserve Recommendation

Stakeholders also endorsed by acclamation PJM’s calculation for the 2019 day-ahead scheduling reserve (DASR) requirement of 5.29%. It will be incorporated into Manual 13 and implemented on Jan. 1. The 2019 DASR requirement is a 0.01-point increase from the 2018 requirement of 5.28%.

The DASR requirement is composed of the load forecast error (LFE) and forced outage rate (FOR), which are determined on a seasonal basis first and then annualized to express average LFE and FOR rates for the year. The LFE and FOR components for 2019 are 2.18% and 3.11% respectively.

Generator Voltage Schedule

The committee endorsed revisions to both Manual 3 and Manual 14D, including an update to the generator voltage schedule with new processes that require TOs to verify and submit voltage schedules via eDART, generation owners to review the schedules and the eDART contact to acknowledge the schedule. This will all need to be done annually.

Resource Tracker

PJM’s Rebecca Stadelmeyer presented the results of a stakeholder survey and a first read for revisions to Manual 14D that would create a new Section 5.3.7 outlining the timeline for confirming generator data in Resource Tracker each year. The survey found that the “overwhelming desire” was for a four-week window from Oct. 1 to Nov. 1, Stadelmeyer said.

Resource Tracker was created in 2013 to provide a single mechanism for resource owners to submit generator information, namely information regarding ownership, ownership changes, the bidding company and dispatching company.

Additionally, PJM is planning to update Resource Tracker by the first quarter next year with improved formatting, additional data and updates to the user guide. Updates on these initiatives will be provided to the Tech Change Forum and the System Restoration Coordinators Subcommittee.

Uneventful Month Operationally

There was one spinning event and one high system voltage action in October, fairly routine operations for the month, according to PJM’s operations report.

“The month was uneventful,” PJM’s Mike Zhang said.

The average RTO LFE in October was 1.93%, which was within the 3% goal, and other metrics were “pretty on par” with the same month a year ago.

GT Power Group’s Dave Pratzon noted that the quarterly average peak LFE for the ComEd zone has followed a pattern during the past three years of meeting or exceeding PJM’s 3% target goal in the third quarter. RTO staff could not explain the pattern, but took an action item to analyze it and report back at a subsequent meeting.

Order 841 Compliance

PJM’s Andrew Levitt provided a status report on the RTO’s proposal to comply with FERC Order 841, which is due by Dec. 3 and will define electric storage resources (ESRs) and alter some market rules to accommodate ESR participation.

Levitt explained PJM’s understanding of FERC’s descriptions of different types of setups and charging energy. The order defines an ESR as “a resource capable of receiving electric energy from the grid and storing it for later injection of electric energy back to the grid.” An ESR can be connected at the transmission level, distribution level or behind the meter.

The filing will also distinguish between charging energy purchased by ESRs that is intended for resale as wholesale or retail. Currently, all charging for any ESR capable of serving end-use load is purchased at retail. Energy for retail resale would need to be purchased through a load-serving entity (LSE) and would not be PJM-jurisdictional, while energy intended for wholesale resale could be purchased from and sold back to PJM and would be under FERC’s jurisdiction.

Implementation will occur in 2019 and include methods for resource categorization and coordination with utilities.

Primary Frequency Response Moving Forward

PJM’s Glen Boyle explained that, in light of FERC’s clarification on Order 842 issued on Aug. 24, the Primary Frequency Response Senior Task Force has moved forward. (See PJM Gens Pitch Order 842 Compliance Plans.)

“We’ve been on kind of a mini-hiatus while we waited for some FERC clarification. We have received that,” Boyle said.

Final proposals are due on Nov. 21, with final review at the task force’s next meeting on Nov. 27. A subsequent poll on the options will be open until Dec. 3, with staff targeting the task force’s Dec. 5 meeting to review results.

Preliminary data at the task force’s last meeting showed about 50% of resources not meeting performance criteria, though some did provide very good response. Boyle said the cause of the poor performance is still unknown, but that staff are working with owners to figure out how to fix it.

Dominion Gone Until May

PJM’s Lagy Matthew said there is only one significant extended transmission outage expected this winter. The Dooms-Cunningham 500-kV line in Dominion’s zone will remain on outage for all but three days until May 3. It is related to an end-of-life rebuild expected to be complete in June 2019.

The outage may cause low voltages and minor thermal overloads in the area but no reduction to generation capacity because of stability issues.

Dispatch Signal Survey

PJM is planning to distribute a survey to dispatchable resources on Nov. 26 to determine units’ ability to follow electronic dispatch signals, Zhang said. Deviations from the signal can cause financial penalties and dispatch issues, he said. PJM hopes to determine whether units can follow dispatch verbally or electronically and understand other signal-following limitations.

The goals are to improve the security-constrained economic dispatch (SCED) solution with more accurate expectations, enhance synchronized reserve allocation and deployment, and potentially overhaul tools to better reflect generation fleet characteristics.

PJM is gathering the responses because it doesn’t have a centralized mechanism for updating existing information.

“Understanding that there are some changes coming, it’s definitely good to get ahead of the situation,” Zhang said.