PJM should be able to absorb the more than 7,400 MW of imports that cleared in May’s capacity auction for 2016-17, officials told a special meeting of the Planning Committee Friday.

Officials said that their initial review found PJM can import 11,000 to 12,000 MW. “We may have gotten close to what our limit would be, but we haven’t gotten to it yet,” said Stu Bresler, PJM vice president of market operations.

Officials cautioned that their results were preliminary and subject to change with further analysis.

Friday’s meeting was prompted by a problem statement approved by the Planning Committee Sept. 12.

The committee will seek to adopt a methodology for determining an RTO import limit that can be applied in the PJM planning process as well as included in next year’s Base Residual Auction. “It would function much like a CETL (Capacity Emergency Transfer Limit) for the entire RTO,” Bresler told the Markets and Reliability Committee in a brief discussion Thursday.

In addition to ensuring space for capacity, PJM must account for long term transmission contracts and 3,500 MW for the RTO’s Capacity Benefit Margin, which is reserved for importing capacity from external areas in emergencies.

Officials said their initial review identified a 500/230 kV transformer in the Duke Energy Carolinas zone as the limiting facility.

Bresler said PJM likely will propose a combination of path-specific limits with an overall RTO import cap. “The sum of the path-by-path limits could exceed what an overall limit would be,” he said.

Officials were unable to say Friday how much of the RTO’s total import capacity is to PJM’s west, the source of most of the imports that cleared in the May auction.