PJM will conduct training April 17 for transmission developers who want to submit proposals in the RTO’s second “market efficiency” window in November. The session will educate developers on how PJM calculates the benefits of improvements to reduce transmission congestion.

PJM officials acknowledged the need for training after selecting only one of 17 proposals submitted in the first market efficiency window last year. It was a disappointing beginning for those who had hoped FERC Order 1000 would unleash competition in transmission development. (See PJM to OK Only 1 of 17 Congestion Relief Proposals.)

Five of the projects were rejected because the congestion developers targeted had been addressed by other transmission projects or generation, while another nine projects failed to clear the 1.25 benefit-to-cost threshold.

Three projects passed the cost-effectiveness screen, but because they all addressed congestion in the same area, only one proposal was approved.

At last week’s Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee meeting, PJM officials outlined the data and assumptions that will be used to identify areas of the grid that could benefit from “economic” upgrades.

The assumptions are to be finalized by May, with preliminary results from the congestion analysis in June. After incorporating stakeholder feedback on the model, PJM will open the proposal window in November.