Ott’s Last MRC

WILMINGTON, Del. — PJM CEO Andy Ott attended his last Markets and Reliability and Members committee meetings on Thursday, capping more than two decades with the organization.

Ott announced his retirement last month — the second top executive to leave PJM this year. (See PJM CEO Andy Ott to Retire.)

“He’s been instrumental in the development of our markets,” MC Vice Chairman Steve Lieberman said. “PJM has really been a leader in these markets, and we certainly appreciate that and his decades of service to PJM. You will leave a very good legacy.”

Lieberman then presented Ott with an inscribed compass on behalf of the membership that read, “To Andy, with appreciation, for your service to PJM.”

Fuel Security Charter

Stakeholders unanimously endorsed the charter for PJM’s Fuel Security Senior Task Force.

The MRC reluctantly endorsed a problem statement and issue charge in March after some doubted the necessity to discuss the fuel security issue and even contended that PJM already had a solution in mind. (See PJM Stakeholders Reluctantly OK Fuel Security Initiative.)

Tim Horger, PJM’s director of energy market operations, said the task force remains on track to report its recommendations on the first four key work activities at the September MRC, including: providing education on the issue; quantifying the risk of selected scenarios that could risk fuel security; defining fuel/energy security; and determining whether there is a quantifiable and/or locational requirement for fuel/energy security.

RTEP Removal Language Deferred a 3rd Time

Voting on language that alters the way PJM manages supplemental projects in the Regional Transmission Expansion Plan was delayed a third time.

Both RTO staff and LS Power’s Sharon Segner pushed for the 30-day deferral, telling the MRC that stakeholders at the special Planning Committee sessions have four more issues to resolve before seeking a vote. (See “RTEP Poll,” PJM PC/TEAC Briefs: June 13, 2019.)

Segner gave a brief description of the four outstanding issues: conversion and how supplementals become baseline projects without undergoing the Order 1000 planning process; the displacement of supplemental projects through the regional planning process; ensuring that supplemental projects do not undermine the integrity of the Order 1000 process; and PJM’s authority to remove supplementals from the RTEP once permits have been denied.

“Folks are trying to focus on principles here rather than just wordsmithing the manuals,” she said. “At the heart of the issue is PJM’s fundamental authority over its RTEP, especially as it relates to removing supplementals from the plan.”

Capacity Interconnection Rights

Carl Johnson, on behalf of the PJM Public Power Coalition, presented a first read of a problem statement and issue charge that forms a task force to discuss the rights and responsibilities of stakeholders with capacity interconnection rights (CIRs).

“You may recall this issue got tangled up in the must-offer exception process,” he said. “It became very clear that we didn’t all agree what rights they convey or what they meant or what their value was.” (See Showdown Set on PJM Must-offer Exceptions.)

The issue charge divides the work into two phases that will potentially culminate in revisions to section 230 of the Operating Agreement and Manual 14G.

Johnson said stakeholders will consider if CIRs should:

1. Continue to be the proper mechanism for conveying the rights and responsibilities associated with them, or whether they should be modified or a new mechanism introduced.
2. Should be returned to system capability due to being unutilized in the capacity market by a resource.
3. Create an obligation for a resource to participate in the capacity market.

Manuals Endorsed

• Manual 14G: Clarifies requirements for term of site control, NERC-accepted stability models and corrections to references and links.
• Manual 6: Cover-to-cover review that aligns with parts of the OASIS refresh and removes financial transmission rights credit business rules from section 6.7 and refers readers to Tariff/credit overview and supplemental documents on PJM’s website.

Stakeholders Bid Farewell to Wilmington

The MRC and MC will no longer meet at the Chase Center in Wilmington after voting to move all subsequent meetings to the PJM Conference and Training Center in Valley Forge, Pa.

– Christen Smith