RENSSELAER, N.Y. — NYISO achieved a wind energy record of 1,574 MW at around noon on March 2, representing 9% of the state’s power generation, COO Rick Gonzales told the Management Committee on Wednesday. The record production came six days before powerful storms lashed Rochester and other parts of western New York. Rochester Gas & Electric reported four wind gusts on March 8 that were in the top 10 ever recorded in Rochester.
The high wind storm event led to multiple transmission line outages, prompting NYISO to reduce both West Zone generation and Ontario imports to manage system reliability. More than 30,000 households were left without power for days.
In his operating performance report, Gonzales also said that NYISO had reduced production costs by $5.5 million so far this year through congestion coordination with PJM under the ISO’s Broader Regional Markets initiative.
LBMP up Almost 70% over March 2016
Locational-based marginal prices (LBMP) averaged $34.97/MWh in March, an almost 70% increase over the $20.66/MWh a year earlier and a $4 increase over February.
The year-to-date average through March was $37.81/MWh, a 23% increase from $30.68/MWh a year ago.
The rise in power prices was less dramatic than that in natural gas. Prices at Transco Z6 NY averaged $3.49/MMBtu in March, up 169% over the prior year.
Con Ed Black Start Testing Increased
The Management Committee voted to increase testing for black start generating units in Consolidated Edison’s service territory.
Under Tariff changes approved by the committee, all Con Ed black start units must fully test every year, rather than every other year. The units will be required to energize a transmission bus. Synchronization testing and partial testing of steam units are eliminated under the new procedures. Post-test supplemental resource evaluation running of the steam units is also eliminated, as it would necessitate synchronization.
The change will bring the Con Ed territory into compliance with NERC reliability standard EOP-005 for black start testing, David Mahlmann, the ISO’s operations manager, said at the meeting on April 26.
Con Ed registered as a NERC transmission operator in July 2016. Previously, the utility had been operating only under the black start rules of the New York State Reliability Council. The council has updated its testing requirements to comply with the NERC rule and directed the ISO to change its rules.
The motion approved by the committee recommends that the NYISO Board of Directors authorize a FERC filing of the Tariff changes reflecting the new testing requirements, which were also incorporated in the ISO’s system restoration manual.
Liam Baker of Eastern Generation expressed concern about incremental costs resulting from the increased testing. “Do I have to file a [Section] 205 at FERC every time I make a capital improvement?” he said. “It might not be millions of dollars but tens of thousands, and it gets ridiculous when you have to hire counsel for a small amount.”
NYISO Assistant General Counsel Carl Patka said that incremental unit cost compensation is outlined in the Tariff, which “says that the generator will submit to the ISO its actual costs incurred, and the ISO together with FERC has 30 days to respond.”
Customer Satisfaction High
Market participants and customers are generally happy with their interactions with NYISO, according to the grid operator’s biannual customer satisfaction survey, conducted by the Siena College Research Institute (SRI).
SRI Director Don Levy told the Management Committee the ISO received a 98.8% “customer inquiry satisfaction” score on the survey, which had a response rate of 31%. The respondents were those who had made inquiries of the ISO on any subject, whether concerning an invoice or a Tariff detail.
The ISO’s rating on market participant satisfaction was lower, at 78% on a response rate of 23%. The 354 participants included end users, generation owners, other suppliers, public power and environmental entities, and transmission owners. There was brief debate at the meeting as to whether the lower score qualified as a B- or a C+.
Levy said the two surveys resulted in a combined score of 88.5%.
The surveys identified several areas in which NYISO could improve, according to Levy:
- Tariff, legal and regulatory webpages;
- ISO manuals, technical bulletins and user’s guides;
- Market mitigation and analysis interactions;
- Transparency of operations; and
- Increasing the consideration of stakeholder input.
Respondents said the ISO’s strengths included accurate customer settlement invoices; timely responses to credit department inquiries; staff’s professionalism; fair handling of all interactions; and the communications department.
NYISO Switching to NAESB Digital Certificate May 1
Beginning May 1, NYISO will no longer accept its own certificates for Market Information System (MIS) applications, instead requiring a valid North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) digital certificate, Stakeholder Services Team Lead Diana Ortiz said.
“As we speak, we are updating the wildcard SSL server certificates for all MIS production applications,” Ortiz said. The ISO has been transitioning to the new system since last year to be fully compliant with FERC Order 676-H by May 15. (See FERC Backs NERC, NAESB Standards.)
NYISO stopped issuing its own certificates for MIS applications on March 1, and about 85% of market participants have already completed the transition process. A significant portion of those who have not made the switch no longer need access to MIS applications, Ortiz said. Anyone in doubt as to their status can contact Stakeholder Services for assistance by calling 518-356-6060, sending an email to stakeholder_services@nyiso.com or using the live chat feature on www.nyiso.com.
— Michael Kuser