RENSSELAER, N.Y. — The NYISO Reliability Needs Assessment for 2017-2026 identified two transmission security needs beginning next year.

The assessment, which was approved by the Management Committee on Wednesday, identified the risk of thermal overloads on New York State Electric and Gas’ Oakdale 345/115-kV transformer in the Binghamton area and the Long Island Power Authority’s East Garden City-Valley Stream 138-kV line. Generation resources were deemed adequate in the period.

The Oakdale transformer overload was also mentioned in the 2014 assessment. NYSEG responded with plans for a third Oakdale transformer and reconfiguration of the Oakdale 345-kV substation. However, NYSEG has since updated the in-service date of the improvements from 2018 to the winter of 2021, the report said.

The LIPA 138-kV line has a risk of thermal overloads under N-1-1 conditions. “The power flow on this facility is driven by the combination of LIPA load in western Long Island and the scheduled 300-MW wheel between ConEdison and LIPA,” the report said.

Following the NYISO Board of Directors’ approval of the assessment, NYSEG and LIPA will be asked to develop solutions for the two transmission needs. If they are not addressed in their updated Local Transmission Owner Plans, the ISO will solicit solutions from developers.

The proposed solutions will be evaluated in the 2016 Comprehensive Reliability Plan. The RNA is the foundation for the reliability plan, which will be adopted next year.

Until upgrades can be completed, “the use of demand response and operating procedures, including load shedding under emergency conditions, may be necessary to maintain reliability during peak load periods,” the ISO said.

The biennial RNA process assumed the deactivation of the R.E. Ginna and James A. FitzPatrick nuclear plants. Those potential retirements were announced since the last Comprehensive Reliability Plan in 2014.

The plants, with a combined 1,463 MW, may be saved by the Clean Energy Standard adopted by the state’s Public Service Commission in August, which would pay upstate nuclear plants nearly $1 billion for their carbon-free attributes in the first two years of the program.

Systemwide Demand Response Activated

A summer heat wave prompted the first mandatory systemwide DR event in NYISO in three years.

The Aug. 12 event came on the second day of a two-day heat wave, when the peak load was 31,477 MW. NYISO estimated a peak of 32,415 MW if DR had not been activated.

Actual loads were 1,000 MW more than earlier projections for the day and came as neighboring control areas in Ontario and New England were also experiencing high demand. Operating reserves for some time intervals fell below the required 2,620 MW.

The summer’s peak was 32,076 MW on Aug. 11.

“The peak represented the third consecutive year that the NYISO peak fell below the 50/50 forecast,” said Wes Yeomans, NYISO’s operations vice president, who presented the summer 2016 report. The forecasted 50/50 peak was 33,360 MW.

Noteworthy over the two days was the performance of the state’s 1,700 MW of wind resources.

On Aug. 11, wind generation was essentially a flat line of about 50 MW from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. On Aug. 12, as thunderstorm alerts began to move through the state, wind generation topped out at about 600 MW during the afternoon, closely following the rise in demand, which peaked in the 4 p.m. hour.

On July 24, NYISO activated its 21-hour notice for DR for the Lower Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island, but the ISO did not implement its operation. Rochester Gas & Electric, Con Ed and the New York Power Authority instituted their voluntary DR programs, however.

The last systemwide DR event was during the polar vortex in January 2014 when the voluntary program was activated. The last mandatory DR systemwide event was in July 2013.

– William Opalka