Planners are sticking with their decision to recommend that the PJM Board of Managers approve a $340.6 million market efficiency project to address congestion at the AP South interface.
Since last month, when PJM told the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee of its intention to back the proposal, planners have conducted additional sensitivity studies on the selected project using lower gas prices. They did not perform additional studies on three competing proposals. (See “Planners Choose Project to Relieve APSouth Congestion,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)
Project 9A (without capacitors), submitted by Dominion High Voltage and Transource Energy, performed even better at providing production cost savings with low gas inputs, PJM said.
LS Power’s Sharon Segner continued to object to the project being chosen without further study of the three cheaper competing proposals. They ranged from $72 million to $253 million.
For one thing, she said, there was no carbon pricing in the model, so the project is being approved as if the Clean Power Plan, currently stayed by the Supreme Court, will not be implemented.
“Basically, you’re approving the project based on a zero-carbon pricing model in the non-[Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative] states,” she said. “If you had carbon pricing in the model, project 9A would look different, and competing projects would be different.”
Given the cost of the project, she added, it should be tied to cost caps.
A letter to the TEAC from LS Power’s Northeast Transmission Development expounded on her concerns. Another letter echoed her complaints regarding the carbon pricing assumptions.
“We’ll take a closer look at the operating agreement,” responded TEAC Chair Paul McGlynn. “We’ve certainly done a lot of studies and sensitivities under a number of variables. We think we are satisfying the requirements of the Operating Agreement.”
The expected in-service date is 2020.
PJM to Open FERC Order 1000 Proposal Window in Late June
PJM expects to open its second 2016 Regional Transmission Expansion Plan window in the last week of June, McGlynn said.
Its scope will consist of a year 2021 analysis of N-1 and N-1-1 thermal and voltage contingencies; generation deliverability and common mode outages; and load deliverability thermal and voltage.
Newark Airport’s Increased Energy Need May Spark Reliability Violation
Newark Liberty International Airport has identified a need for additional energy resources. Its current load is about 40 MVA, but a new planned terminal is expected to increase that load by about 33 MVA.
Meanwhile, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s future plans for its PATH rail line are anticipated to add another 8 MVA for a total of 81 MVA.
The airport’s energy needs are expected to increase further with planned upgrades to Terminal B and Terminal C.
The facility’s load will be served by two new 345-kV underground cable circuits, part of the Bergen-Linden Corridor project. Existing 26-kV circuits will be used for backup.
However, that presents a potential reliability violation, because a portion of the 26-kV station property is owned by the airport, and it has requested the use of the land back. In addition, the 26-kV facilities are aging and potentially thermally overloaded.
Artificial Island Project Alternatives, Cost Continue to be Studied
PJM and Public Service Electric and Gas are continuing to look at ways to reduce the cost of the Artificial Island stability fix, including moving the 230-kV line to Hope Creek instead of the Salem substation.
“Cost estimates are being developed for the new configuration,” McGlynn said. “We are looking at it from a scheduling perspective as well — what potential impact it may have on changing the design of the project. There is also ongoing work relating to analytical work and stability studies.” (See Artificial Island Cost Increase Could Lead to Rebid.)
Installed Reserve Margin Study Assumptions Endorsed
The Planning Committee endorsed the 2016 installed reserve margin (IRM) study assumptions developed by the Resource Adequacy Analysis Subcommittee.
The recommendation retains the current load model selection process with one minor change: clarifying that the annual peak can only be drawn from the summer peak week. (See “IRM Assumptions Presented for First Read,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)
PJM’s Tom Falin said that had the change been implemented for last year, the same load model would have been selected, and the IRM would have been the same.
Planners also will continue to model a 2.5-GW ambient derating for the summer.
PJM Beefing up Details of TO Upgrade Exemption Proposal
PJM staff is adding more details to its plan to exclude typical transmission substation equipment from competitive windows as a result of questions that FERC had regarding the RTO’s proposal to exclude some low-voltage projects from the process. The commission responded to PJM’s voltage floor proposal with a May 27 deficiency notice ordering the RTO to provide additional information (ER16-1335).
“With this process, it’s going to be similar [to the voltage floor proposal] because we’re basically excluding problems that we think will result in a transmission owner upgrade,” PJM’s Mark Sims said. “If [FERC] had concerns with the voltage floor, they probably would have concerns with this.” (See “Typical TO Upgrades Would be Excluded from Competitive Window under Proposal,” PJM Planning and TEAC Briefs.)
Among FERC’s concerns was how stakeholders could comment on exempted projects. PJM’s Sue Glatz said the RTO is drafting a compliance filing to FERC due at the end of the month regarding the voltage floor exemption.
The PC will be asked to endorse the TO upgrade exemption next month.
80% of Projects Submitted in Past 6 Months Wouldn’t Meet New Procedures
About 80% of the projects submitted to the proposal queue would have been bumped if new submittal procedures had been in place, PJM’s Dave Egan said in his semiannual update of the project queue. (See “Stricter Rules Proposed for Queue Submittal Process,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)
More than half of the projects for the six-month queue were submitted on the last day, he said.
He noted there has been an uptick in solar projects in Virginia and North Carolina and a slight reduction overall in natural gas.
Task Force Breaks into Subgroups to Study Minimum Design Standards
The Designated Entity Design Senior Task Force, created to draft minimum design requirements for competitively solicited facilities, has divided into three subgroups to focus on transmission lines, substations and system protection, and control design and coordination. (See “Task Force will Create Design Standards for Competitive Projects,” PJM Planning Committee and TEAC Briefs.)
The protection subgroup has determined that Manual M7 is a good starting point but will be examining additional items, including metering requirements, commissioning procedures and disturbance monitoring equipment.
The main focus of the substation subgroup will be different voltages, criteria-based design, functional layout, future expansion and minimum outages.
The task force expects to deliver its recommendations to the PC in September.
Network Upgrade Cost Allocation Process Hits a Snag
PJM is studying issues it has identified with the network upgrade cost allocation process for new service queue requests.
PJM’s Aaron Berner explained that in studying the need for projects, customers are evaluated together. But when it comes to allocating the cost of approved projects, transmission service customers aren’t allowed to share costs with the other customers.
“Everybody is studied together. Then we come to the point in the Tariff that discusses cost allocation as opposed to mechanics. We then cannot allocate cost to transmission service customers,” he said.
He expects to return next month with a draft problem statement to address the issue.
– Suzanne Herel