Ramp Rate Approach Would Excuse Nonperformance Penalties

WILMINGTON, Del. — PJM presented a first read of a proposed performance assessment hour ramp rate, which would inform when a generator is vulnerable to nonperformance penalties under the new Capacity Performance model. The approach is a short-term solution that PJM hopes to have in place before the delivery year starts June 1.

Under the proposal, units would be excused from penalties if they are following PJM dispatch that includes the ramp rate.

“The goal is having generators following our dispatch and not causing harm under stress conditions,” PJM’s Rebecca Stadelmeyer said.

PJM doesn’t want generators to disregard its dispatch orders and self-schedule more capacity to avoid penalties when they believe they are approaching a performance assessment hour.

Market Monitor Joe Bowring opposed the proposal. “This explicitly weakens the ‘no excuses’ policy,” he said. “It also hasn’t been demonstrated that the self-scheduling issue is widespread.”

Relying on historical data on ramp does not provide the appropriate incentives to perform during performance assessment hours, Bowring said.

Committee Chairman Mike Kormos assured him that the approach is temporary.

“We want to incent generators to be dispatchable. In order for us to maintain system control, some need to be loaded during the [performance assessment] hour itself, and we want to makes sure they don’t get penalized,” Kormos said. “How big of an issue it is, we don’t know, but I don’t want to find out on the hottest day in the summer.”

How Should Regulation Resources fit into the Capacity Market?

Greg Vaudreuil, co-founder of Mosaic Power, presented a problem statement to include regulation-only resources in the Capacity Performance market.

Vaudreuil said that resources such as batteries, flywheels and certain demand resources are at a competitive disadvantage because they can’t recover their capital and fixed operating costs the same way energy providers can.

“The market for [Capacity Performance] would benefit from fully accounting for and compensating all capacity-providing resources, and warrants PJM stakeholder consideration on the most effective means to incorporate the value emerging regulation-only resources [provide],” the problem statement said.

Manual 18 Revisions Endorsed

Members approved updates to Manual 18: PJM Capacity Market to conform with FERC’s order (ER16-333).

They address the circumstances under which a fixed resource requirement (FRR) entity must meet the percentage internal resource requirement, provisions for early termination of the FRR alternative and the election date for new FRR entities. (See IMEA Reaps Limited Relief from Capacity Rule Change.)

GDEC Definitions, Clarifications Approved

The MRC unanimously approved a handful of definitions and clarifications proposed by the Governing Document Enhancement and Clarification Subcommittee.

A clarification for the term “capacity import limit,” which members asked to vote on separately, also was approved, but with 18 “no” votes. That language was clarified to “meet its intent concerning the length of transmission service necessary to meet the capacity import limit (CIL) exception criteria regarding transmission service,” according to the presentation.

The committee deferred voting on clarifications to the term “pumped storage hydropower.” Those proposed revisions “address sell offer options for pumped storage hydropower units and self-scheduling and pool-scheduling of hydropower units.”

First Reads

The MRC also heard first reads on proposed revisions to:

• Regional transmission and energy scheduling practices (See “Session will Study Transmission, Energy Scheduling Practices,” PJM Operating Committee Briefs.)
• Operating parameters (See “Operating Parameters to be Subject of Special Session,” PJM Market Implementation Committee Briefs.)

Members Committee

Tariff Changes Exempting Low-Voltage Reliability Projects OK’d

The Members Committee approved Tariff revisions exempting some reliability projects below the 200-kV threshold from the proposal window process. (See “Low-Voltage Projects to be Exempted from Competitive Window Process,” MRC & Members Committee Briefs.)

— Suzanne Herel