VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — PJM will release a request for proposals next January for new black start units intended to begin operation in 2020.

PJM’s David Schweizer said the process is the second iteration of a five-year cycle that began in 2013. (See “New Black Start Units Will Have New Annual Revenue Requirements,” PJM Markets and Reliability Committee Briefs.)

“The purpose of the RTO-wide black start RFP is to look at the system every five years and essentially reoptimize the effectiveness of the cranking paths,” Schweizer said. “What really does drive the amount of black start megawatts and units needed is the critical load amount and the need to serve critical load across cranking paths.”

Existing black start units are expected to remain in service and are not required to respond to the RFP, Schweizer said. However, an approved black start unit could be issued a one-year termination notice if system changes mean that it is no longer serving critical load. The critical-load analysis is being done this year, he said, so “we should have a good idea by the time that RFP is issued what the critical load will be.”

“Even if we don’t have a shortage, the RFP gives us an opportunity to reoptimize the process,” he said.

Seiler Takes the Reins of the OC

Ken Seiler, PJM’s executive director of system operations, has assumed the chairmanship of the Operating Committee as of June. He succeeds Mike Bryson, who remains vice president of operations.

Seiler brings 17 years of PJM experience to the position. Prior to PJM, he worked at General Public Utilities for 14 years as a field engineer building substations and transmission lines before moving into other positions, such as managing transmission engineering, construction management and distribution system operations.

Seiler expects the committee to focus on “the evolving resource mix and its subsequent impact on how we operate the system today and in the future, along with the resilience of the power grid.”

Stakeholders Challenge PJM Decisions on Reserve-Shortage Identification

PJM’s Joe Ciabattoni said PJM’s new shortage pricing algorithm hasn’t identified any shortages, despite complaints from stakeholders that data available online appear to show shortages. (See “Shortage Rule Takes Effect amid FERC Silence,” PJM Market Implementation Committee Briefs.)

Citigroup Energy’s Barry Trayers asked what it takes to create a shortage case.

“You’d look at all your resources, all your ramp rates, and if you’re short of your reserve requires, you’d trigger shortage,” Ciabattoni said.

Tom Hyzinski of GT Power Group asked if there have been shortage cases that system operators haven’t approved, or if there just have not been any shortages yet.

Dispatchers have to “sanity-check” cases and approve them, Ciabattoni said, but situations haven’t warranted a shortage case.

“The cases are the cases,” he said. Dispatchers “won’t go in and play with the numbers in cases.”

However, Calpine’s David “Scarp” Scarpignato argued that PJM’s publicly available data show that several situations have shortage pricing under its new rules related to FERC Order 825. PJM staff argued that they don’t have to implement shortage pricing if the units already dispatched are ramping up to meet the increased reserve requirement, but Scarp said the wording of the order clearly states that the RTO must implement shortage pricing as the units ramp up.

Staff said part of the issue is that units aren’t following their dispatch signals, but Scarp said that’s no justification for not declaring a shortage.

Order 825 “says quite the opposite,” he said. “It says: ‘regardless of cause.’ … It’s black and white.”

Staff suggested that an operator might purposefully disobey the signals to induce shortage pricing. Scarp also dismissed that, saying such action is so egregious that the actor would “probably end up in FERC jail.”

Seiler attempted to quell the argument by saying that it’s a new procedure that will likely require ongoing adjustments.

“We’re not going to settle it here,” he said.

“There’s nothing to settle,” Scarp shot back. He asked to convene a discussion between attorneys for each side.

Staff agreed to develop a report of security constrained economic dispatch cases that were not approved by dispatchers but would have resulted in shortage pricing.

OC to Add Report on DER

PJM plans to produce a monthly report on its progress developing distributed energy resource rules, PJM staff said.

FirstEnergy’s Jim Benchek urged all stakeholders involved with DER to contribute to the process so they can “know what’s coming and be able to impact what’s coming.”

“When you’re talking about DER, it’s really who the DER is connected to,” he said. “If you have the potential to have DERs connected to your system, get engaged.”

PJM to Expand Data Capabilities, Discontinue Flat-File Support

The capabilities of Data Miner 2 are being expanded, PJM’s Thomas Zadlo explained, which means companies have a year to upgrade their internal systems before the flat files many member systems rely upon disappear.

“Data Miner 2 will become the central source for PJM public data,” Zadlo said.

The expanded database will go live in August and flat file postings will be retired in August 2018. Zadlo urged all stakeholders to send representatives to PJM’s Tech Change Forum to stay informed and be prepared.

Bryson Leads on Next Steps for Fuel Resiliency

PJM’s Bryson laid out a roadmap through 2018 to increase grid resiliency, focusing on short-term risks — such as assuring black start service — and gradually extending the perspective to discuss long-term goals such as enhanced dispatching and strategic islanding for critical infrastructure.

The roadmap comes a little more than a month after Bryson led PJM’s publicity campaign on its recently released resiliency whitepaper. (See PJM: Increased Gas Won’t Hurt Reliability, Too Much Solar Will.)

The paper found no point at which the percentage of gas-fired units caused reliability threats, but that a capacity mix of more than 20% of solar would threaten reliability. It was narrowly focused and purposely didn’t address other topics, such as environmental issues or whether natural gas infrastructure could keep pace with the high percentage of gas-fired generators PJM’s analysis said the fleet could handle.

– Rory D. Sweeney