VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — Interconnection customers would face a stricter submittal process for their projects beginning Nov. 1 under Tariff changes unanimously approved Thursday by the Planning Committee.
The revisions were recommended by the Earlier Queue Submittal Task Force, which was convened to figure out ways to incent earlier participation in the process after current rules failed to influence behavior. (See “Stricter Rules Proposed for Queue Submittal Process,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)
In general, the changes require earlier submittal of documentation in order to secure a place in the project queue. PJM would perform a deficiency review only after all elements, aside from site control, were in hand.
Applications would have to clear their deficiencies by the close of the queue window or be terminated.
The revisions also would allow project deposits to become chargeable immediately, and PJM would spend the refundable portions first.
In addition, the opening of queue windows would be moved up to April from May and to October from November, which will improve the chances for large generators to participate in the May Base Residual Auction.
Typical TO Upgrades Would be Excluded from Competitive Window Under Proposal
PJM is proposing to exclude typical transmission substation equipment violations from the Order 1000 competitive window process. The Planning and Markets and Reliability committees will be asked to approve new Operating Agreement language in June.
A historical look at the Regional Transmission Expansion Plan revealed that such fixes rarely yield greenfield proposals. If analysis showed that a greenfield project is possible, PJM would open a proposal window.
The exclusion would not apply to supplemental or market efficiency projects. (See “Proposal Would Exclude TO Upgrades from Order 1000 Window,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)
IRM Study Assumptions Presented for First Read
The Resource Adequacy Analysis Subcommittee is recommending that PJM retain its current load model selection process for the installed reserve margin (IRM) study with one minor change: The procedure will be modified to recognize that the annual peak can only occur in the peak summer week.
PJM’s Tom Falin said that had the change been implemented for the 2015 reserve requirement study, it would have resulted in the same load model being chosen and produced the same IRM and forecast pool requirement.
The Planning Committee will be asked to endorse the study assumptions at its next meeting.
“It’s really a minor change with no consequence,” Falin said.
Planners will continue to model a 2,500-MW ambient derating in the summer period.
The RAAS met six times over five months to study all of the assumptions used in the IRM study after PJM’s methodology was questioned. (See “IRM, FPR Rising; PJM Methodology Challenged,” PJM Planning Committee Briefs.)
The group identified three assumptions that warranted in-depth investigation: the load model selection process, world modeling and the capacity benefit of ties, and the ambient derating of generators in the summer period.
“It’s essentially the same as last year, but the subcommittee is more comfortable with those assumptions after having drilled into them,” Falin said.
PJM-MISO to Create ‘Targeted Market Efficiency Projects’
PJM and MISO are working to revise their joint operating agreement to create a category of “targeted market efficiency projects” that could be undertaken quickly and relatively inexpensively to remedy historical congestion. These would be treated separately from traditional market efficiency projects, which look at projected model conditions under future assumptions, said PJM’s Chuck Liebold.
“These projects would be very targeted in nature,” he said. They probably would consist of upgrades to terminal equipment, and an aggressive in-service date would be assigned to them.
The upgrades would be recommended on an annual basis, with proposals going before the boards of each RTO in December.
He said the study process will be similar to an effort the RTOs undertook last year, when they were unable to approve any projects. (See MISO-PJM ‘Quick Hit’ Projects Shrink to Two.)
The projects would be evaluated based on five years of benefits at a benefit-cost ratio of 1.0.
Planners Choose Project to Relieve APSouth Congestion
Planners intend to recommend a $340.6 million APSouth market efficiency project to the Board of Managers, despite some stakeholders’ recommendations that they take another look at three other proposals.
LS Power’s Sharon Segner said that the 9A (without capacitors) proposal is not necessarily the most feasible and that it faces permitting problems.
“We’ve been [evaluating proposals] for more than a year now, and I am confident with what we’re proposing now,” PJM’s Tim Horger said.
He said the project provides the most congestion savings to PJM and APSouth as well as the most production cost savings.
The project would tap the Conemaugh-Hunterstown 500-kV line and build a new 230-kV double circuit line between Rice and Ringgold. The plan also calls for building a new 230-kV double circuit line between Furnace Run and Conastone and rebuilding the Conastone-Northwest 230-kV line. (See “Planners Select Dominion-Transource Project to Address APSouth Congestion,” PJM Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee Briefs.)
It is projected to be in service by 2020.
Two Dominion Zone Reliability Projects Recommended
PJM presented two reliability projects it intends to recommend to the Board of Managers out of more than two dozen it received in the first proposal window of the year.
Both are in the Dominion transmission zone in Virginia, with projected in-service dates of June 1, 2020.
One addresses the overload of the Chesterfield-Messer Road-Charles City Road 230-kV circuit. The $22 million project consists of rebuilding 21.3 miles of existing line between Chesterfield and Lakeside.
The other addresses the overload of the Carson-Rogers Road 500-kV circuit. The $48.5 million project would rebuild the circuit.
Cogentrix Hopewell Units to be Deactivated
PJM has received a deactivation notice from James River Genco for Units 1 and 2 of Cogentrix Hopewell in the Dominion zone.
Together, the units represent 92 MW. The requested deactivation date is May 31, 2017.
PJM is conducting a reliability analysis.
Preliminary CPP Compliance Analysis Presented
PJM presented some of the first findings of its study of Clean Power Plan compliance to Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee members.
The review continues to indicate that regional compliance is cheaper. In addition, it showed that mass-based compliance provides more certainty in emissions levels than rate-based but that the latter approach can lead to fewer retirements.
Rate-based compliance also reduces wholesale energy market prices. (See “Reference Model for CPP Study Introduced,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)
– Suzanne Herel