The Operating Committee last week endorsed manual changes to implement lessons learned from last September’s heat wave and January’s bitter cold. The committee also endorsed changes to four other manuals that will implement new dispatch rules for demand response pending approval of proposed Tariff amendments.
The changes to Manual 13: Emergency Operations will allow declaration of Cold Weather and Hot Weather alerts several days in advance instead of the day before.
Many of the changes affecting the other manuals are dependent on Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval of proposed Tariff revisions (ER14-822) allowing demand response to be dispatched more quickly and granularly. These include the split of DR into pre-emergency and emergency categories and implementation of 30-, 60- and 120-minute response windows.
Last month, FERC issued a deficiency notice requesting additional information on pre-emergency dispatch of DR and the reduction in the default response time from two hours to 30 minutes. (See FERC Questions May Delay New DR Rules.)
Some stakeholders expressed reservations about endorsing the revisions subject to FERC approval. Mike Bryson, executive director for system operations, said PJM wanted the manual changes now to ensure they would take effect in time for summer.
If FERC does not approve the Tariff amendments as proposed, he acknowledged “we do have to start over.”
Other manual changes endorsed by the Operating Committee include revisions to:
- Manual 11: Energy and Ancillary Services Market Operations, specifying emergency DR price caps based on lead time, as well as an Economic DR price cap.
- Manual 18: PJM Capacity Market, outlining DR compliance measures and rules, as well as exceptions to the 30-minute lead time requirement.
- Manual 19: Load Forecasting and Analysis, adding pre-emergency and emergency DR language.
- Manual 28: Operating Agreement Accounting, clarifying load management accounting procedures.