Below is a summary of issues discussed and voted on at the Markets and Reliability and Members committees on Thursday June 26.

MEASURES REJECTED

RPM Supply Curve Change Rejected

The Markets and Reliability and Members committees rejected a proposal to create more informative supply curves from capacity auctions. The proposal won only 40% support after Market Monitor Joe Bowring warned that “We continue to think this is an extremely bad idea.”

Stakeholders had approved a problem statement by Exelon on the issue without opposition last June. But support for the change eroded after Bowring signaled his opposition, saying it could reveal sensitive data about price-quantity offers and cause collusion among generators. Load representatives opposing the change cited Bowring’s concerns and news reports indicating Exelon had helped boost clearing prices in the May auction by offering 4,255 MW of nuclear capacity at the maximum price allowed. (See Load Balks at Supply Curve Fix in Response to Auction Strategies.)

The proposal won support of three-quarters of Transmission and Generation owners but less than half of Other Suppliers and virtually none of End Use Customers and Electric Distributors.

Cost Development Subcommittee to ‘Hibernate’

PJM withdrew a proposal to sunset the Cost Development Subcommittee after members and the Market Monitor predicted the panel would be needed in the future.

The subcommittee was created to develop standard procedures for calculating the costs of products or services provided to PJM when those products or services are required to be provided at a cost-based rate. It has been dormant since October.

“It strikes us as inevitable” that the committee will be needed again, Exelon’s Jason Barker said.

Dominion’s Louis Slade said it might take as long as two months to reestablish the committee, which is comprised of technical experts, if it were disbanded.

Market Monitor Joe Bowring said the committee may be needed soon to consider the costs of batteries used in energy storage. “There will soon enough be additional work” for the committee, Bowring said.

The subcommittee will remain standing but will hold no meetings until it receives another assignment.

Members Balk at ‘Deferring’ Issues

Leaders of the Members Committee backed off from a proposal that it “defer” action on four initiatives after receiving push-back from members last week.

Vice Chair Jim Jablonski outlined a proposal to delay further action on four initiatives so that members could concentrate their efforts on several other items that have early fall deadlines for completion. MC Secretary Dave Anders said further meetings on the deferred items would be delayed until about October.

But when members raised objections to delaying two of the four issues, Anders and Jablonski said they would reconsider the proposal.

MEASURES APPROVED

The Markets and Reliability and Members Committees approved the following by acclamation Thursday following little discussion or debate:

Markets and Reliability Committee

PJM Manuals

• Members endorsed revisions to Manual 01: Control Center and Data Exchange Requirements and Manual 14D: Generator Operational Requirements that incorporate requirements for installation of SynchroPhasor Measurement Units (PMU) at new generation interconnections. Related Tariff changes were approved by members last June and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in February. The requirements apply to interconnection customers entering the new services queue on or after Oct. 1, 2012 with facilities with a maximum output of 100 MW or greater. (See Members Approve PMU Requirement.)
• Members endorsed changes to Manual 01: Control Center and Data Exchange Requirements and Manual 14D: Generator Operational Requirements governing rules for members wishing to purchase access to the PJMNet data feed. (See Final OK for Membership Inquiry, PJMNet.)

Designated Entity and Interconnection Coordination Agreements

The MRC and MC approved the Designated Entity Agreement (DEA) and Interconnection Coordination Agreement (ICA) developed by the Regional Planning Process Task Force (RPPTF).

The documents define the obligations of companies designated to build and operate transmission projects awarded under the competitive rules of FERC Order 1000. They include project scope, planning criteria, development schedules, project milestones and terms and conditions.

FERC ordered PJM to file the DEA for commission approval by July 14. (See: 147 FERC ¶61,128).

Coordinated Transaction Schedule

The MRC gave PJM final approval to implement the Coordinated Transaction Schedule (CTS) product for trading between PJM and the New York ISO.

Last week’s vote endorsed the accuracy of the PJM scheduling tool that will be used to optimize the cross-border transactions. PJM officials told members in March that the Intermediate Term Security Constrained Economic Dispatch (IT SCED) tool is accurate within $5/MWh more than two-thirds of the time. (See PJM Price Forecasts: Close Enough for Power Trading?)

CTS, which is intended to reduce uneconomic power flows between the two regions, is scheduled to be implemented as soon as November.

Transmission Owner Data Feed

Members approved a revised issue charge for the Transmission Owner Data Feed Task Force to include consideration of generator real-time reactive capability data. Members approved creation of the task force in April to consider an easier method for transmission owners to access real-time generator data, an effort intended to improve situational awareness and emergency response.

During initial task force discussions, stakeholders shared concerns about TOs having access to generator-characteristic data in addition to real-time telemetry. Exelon responded that generator real-time reactive capability data is necessary for accurate state estimator and contingency analyses. (See Members to Consider Easier Sharing of Real-Time Generator Data.)

Cap Review Senior Task Force

The committee approved the proposed charter for the CRSTF, which was created to consider changing the current $1,000/MWh offer cap. (See Effort to Lift Offer Cap Advances After Debate.)

Members Committee

Multi-driver transmission projects

Members approved Operating Agreement (OA) and Tariff revisions governing multi-driver transmission projects, which are intended to lower costs for public policy transmission projects under FERC Order 1000. (See States Still Miffed with TOs’ `Multi-Driver’ Cost Allocation.)

Operating Agreement Errata

Members approved a revision to OA Schedule 11 to correct a typo that refers to “Section 16” as “schedule 16.”