Cold-weather testing continued into the second week of January due to the region experiencing one of the mildest Decembers on record.

The cost of the testing was cheaper than the previous year — $3.4 million compared with $4.9 million.

Two out of three eligible units declined to test, which Operating Committee Chair Mike Bryson said was a good thing because they would have been turned down anyway because of the warm weather. Some units have indicated they are going to test themselves, he said.

The success rate by unit was 97%; by megawatt, it was 98%.

The largest cause of failures, at 38%, was liquid fuel handling problems, followed by control system issues (15%).

Session will Study Transmission, Energy Scheduling Practices

An educational session will be held Feb. 24 on proposed changes to PJM’s regional transmission and energy scheduling practices.

The updates stem from the alignment of the gas-electric market timeline and generator offer flexibility proposals.

The changes add a five-minute “shotgun” start window for the hourly spot-in product — spot market imports — in which all reservations will be considered simultaneously.

“This process is going to give everybody a better shot at receiving the request they submitted,” PJM’s Chris Pacella said.

PJM Prepares for Annual Security Drill

PJM is asking members wanting to take part in the annual Grid Security Disturbance Drill to respond by March 11. The drill will be held on Nov. 9.

Transmission owners will participate in the drill from their workplaces. Generation owners will take part in a tabletop exercise at PJM.

The purpose of the drill is to assess the RTO’s ability to respond to disruptions caused by coordinated cyber and physical attacks and restore the grid to normal operations.

A kick-off meeting will be held in May. For more information, email BCP_Mailbox@pjm.com.

— Suzanne Herel