Below is a summary of the issues scheduled to be brought to a vote at the Markets and Reliability and Members committees Thursday, January 28, 2016. Each item is listed by agenda number, description and projected time of discussion, followed by a summary of the issue and links to prior coverage in RTO Insider.

RTO Insider will be in Wilmington, Del., covering the discussions and votes. See next Tuesday’s newsletter for a full report.

Markets and Reliability Committee

2. PJM Manuals (9:10-9:25)

Members will be asked to endorse the following manual changes:

1. Manual 27: Open Access Transmission Tariff Accounting. Changes allow for network service peak load values submitted by electric distribution companies to be scaled by the eRPM auction software if they do not add up to the annual network service peak load allocation for the area.
2. Manual 38: Operations Planning. Changes resulting from annual review correct typos, revise terms for consistency and update PJM reliability study procedures.
3. Manual 40: Training and Certification Requirements. Implements a new process requiring operators or dispatchers not in compliance be removed from their shifts. Also establishes a compliance score scheme that will trigger a violation notice to the company and potentially FERC. (See “New Operator Compliance Rules to Take Effect Feb. 1,” PJM Operating Committee Briefs.)

3. Energy Market Offer Cap (9:25-9:45)

Tariff and Operating Agreement changes provide clarification conforming to FERC’s order that revisions to the energy market offer cap exclude the 10% adder from cost-based offers more than $2,000/MWh. The committee is being asked to endorse the revisions on first read due to time-sensitivity. (See PJM Members OK $2,000/MWh Energy Market Offer Cap.)

4. Virtual Transactions (9:45-10:00)

A proposed problem statement and issue charge address the nodes at which virtual transactions may be made. The issue stems from a report PJM published in October, “Virtual Transactions in the PJM Energy Market,” that identified instances in which existing market rules allow virtual transactions to be used in a manner that do not add value to the market commensurate to the costs imposed by them. (See PJM Suggests Changes to Virtual Transactions.)

5. Distributed Battery Storage in PJM Markets (10:00-10:15)

Drew Adams of battery maker A.F. Mensah will propose a problem statement and issue charge to study establishing a clear path to market in PJM for distributed battery storage systems.

6. Unit Commitment (10:15-10:30)

Barry Trayers of Citigroup Energy will propose a problem statement and issue charge to investigate separating financial day-ahead obligations from the physical unit commitment.

7. Capacity Performance Cost Allocation (10:30-10:45)

PJM is presenting a problem statement and issue charge asking stakeholders to review whether the Reliability Pricing Model method of cost allocation should be revised. In its Capacity Performance filing, PJM proposed changing the method by which it allocates the cost of procuring capacity. Given the protests and comments received, however, it asked FERC to postpone ruling on that component until the matter could be addressed through the stakeholder process.

8. Seasonal Capacity Resources (10:45-11:00)

Members will be asked to endorse a problem statement and issue charge regarding incorporating seasonal resources into the Capacity Performance construct. Capacity Performance rules allow aggregation of seasonal resources to convert them into “synthetic” annual resources but none were submitted in the first Base Residual Auction involving CP. Stakeholders will be asked to consider whether Tariff language can be improved or developed to encourage seasonal resources to participate in the market.

9. Voltage Threshold (11:00-11:15)

Revisions to the Operating Agreement would exempt transmission reliability projects of less than 200 kV from the competitive proposal windows. Such projects are almost always assigned to incumbent developers, and PJM said the change would enable its engineers to focus on problems more likely to result in a competitive greenfield project. (See “Voltage Threshold will Exempt Some Projects from Proposal Window,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)

10. Long-Term Firm Transmission Service Task Force (11:15-11:25)

Proposed changes to Manual 14A: Generation and Transmission Interconnection Process and 14B: PJM Regional Transmission Planning Process would modify long-term firm transmission service methods. Revisions to 14A would add a cost allocation obligation for new service requesters toward facility upgrades. Changes to 14B describe the baseline and new service request studies, the distribution factor and rating limit allowed to contribute to flowgates and the interaction of baseline and new serve request studies on constraints identified in the capacity import limit studies.

11. PAR Task Force (11:25-11:35)

Other changes proposed for Manual 14A would make clear that phase angle regulator (PAR) technology is eligible for transmission injection rights. (See “Phase Angle Regulators Qualify for Transmission Rights,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)

12. Governing Documents Enhancement & Clarification Subcommittee (GDECS) (11:35-11:45)

Proposed revisions to the Tariff, Operating Agreement and Reliability Assurance Agreement offer clarifications and consistency for certain terms.

Members Committee

Endorsements(1:25-2:40)

1. Energy Market Offer Cap(2:10-2:30)

See related item above.

2. Liaison Committee (LC) Charter (2:30-2:40)

Members will be asked to approve changes to the Liaison Committee charter. The revisions provide for an LC meeting with the board or the second General Session meeting in a calendar year to be canceled upon a super-majority vote of the sector whips. The Members Committee would need to receive three business days’ notice of such a vote. Any sector voting not to cancel a meeting would be required to provide at least one topic to be discussed.