Reliability Products and Services Assessment Endorsed
PJM Operating Committee members last week unanimously approved an initial recommendation to evaluate the need to procure additional reliability-based generation as more intermittent resources are integrated into the RTO’s grid.
Chris Pilong, director of operations planning, and Alex Scheirer, a PJM senior client manager, reviewed the proposed “initial direction” regarding reliability products and services — the outcome of discussions in the Resource Adequacy Senior Task Force (RASTF).
Members began looking at a list of generator “reliability attributes” in January, Pilong said, examining PJM’s renewable integration studies and papers to determine the recommendations for addressing the potential for new reliability services and the next steps in the stakeholder process at the RASTF and other committees and task forces.
Pilong said stakeholders will discuss reactive capability and supply issues in the Reactive Power Compensation Task Force to ensure PJM is able to “utilize, measure and compensate the full reactive capability of synchronous and non-synchronous generators independent of their power output.” The issue also calls for discussions on the ability of all resources to follow voltage schedules and demonstrate performance.
On the issue of regulation service, Pilong said, stakeholders recommend reviewing existing regulation market signals and considering future system needs as part of the regulation market redesign issue charge approved by the Market Implementation Committee last year. (See “RTO to Propose Review of Regulation Market,” PJM MIC Briefs: Nov. 3, 2021.)
Members recommended that the Energy Price Formation Senior Task Force consider how to value flexibility of generation within the existing or modified ancillary services, Pilong said, while another recommendation has the RASTF exploring how to value fuel assurance for all resources that can be relied upon for “unexpected system conditions.”
Pilong said PJM and stakeholders may evaluate methods for data submission and review the existing penalty structure if data reporting requirements in PJM manuals are not followed regarding energy assurance. He said a potential problem statement and issue charge could be brought to the OC in the future to examine manual language changes.
“As we’re seeing the renewable penetration grow, we think we need to tighten those rules up a little bit more,” Pilong said.
Regarding black start resources, stakeholders recommended continuing to monitor activities at the OC special sessions on fuel requirements for black start resources and the discussions at the RASTF on black start flexibility, fuel and energy assurances.
Members also recommended the RASTF consider specific unit performance requirements to handle the increasing number of extreme weather events in the region.
Dynamic Rating Issue Endorsed
Stakeholders unanimously approved an issue charge and endorsed a proposed solution as part of the “quick fix” process regarding facilitation of the integration of dynamic line ratings (DLRs) into PJM operations.
Chris Callaghan, PJM senior business solution engineer, reviewed the problem statement and issue charge addressing interim manual revisions on DLR integration. PPL is tentatively scheduled to go live in June with a DLR system on some of its transmission lines.
PJM wanted to “enable the operational implementation of dynamic ratings” through temporary manual revisions, Callaghan said, which will be in place pending submission of the RTO’s FERC Order 881 compliance filing set to be completed by the end of the month.
In December, FERC ordered transmission providers to end the use of static line ratings in evaluating near-term transmission service and required transmission providers to employ ambient-adjusted ratings for short-term transmission requests of 10 days or less for all lines that are impacted by air temperature. (See FERC Orders End to Static Tx Line Ratings.)
The solution included new language in Manual 1: Control Center and Data Exchange Requirements, Manual 3: Transmission Operations and Manual 3A: Energy Management System (EMS) Model Updates and Quality Assurance (QA) that develops new guidance and requirements related to the operational and technical implementation of dynamic rating systems.
The committee also unanimously endorsed a separate issue charge for the creation of a new task force to explore other issues related to the implementation of DLR in PJM. Callaghan reviewed the problem statement and issue charge related to the new task force reporting to the OC.
Key work activities of the task force include discussions on any impacts of DLR to the auction revenue rights and financial transmission rights markets, any impacts to the seasonal ratings used in the PJM planning processes and any other considerations regarding the notice of an intent to implement DLR in the RTO.
Out-of-scope items in the issue charge include modifications to the Operating Agreement, tariff or manuals that “infringe upon the terms of the Consolidated Transmission Owners Agreement,” including requiring transmission owners to install or implement DLR on lines.
The task force is set to begin by August or after the completion of PJM’s Order 881 compliance filing.
EKPC UFLS Requirements Endorsed
Stakeholders unanimously endorsed a quick-fix solution to appropriately document East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s under frequency load shedding (UFLS) requirements in PJM.
Denise Foster Cronin of the EKPC reviewed a problem statement and issue charge addressing the documentation of UFLS and the changes to the Operating Agreement.
The purpose of the UFLS requirement is to avoid an uncontrolled loss of load situation, Foster Cronin said, and the requirement establishes a total percentage of load shed that must be achieved when system frequency drops to a certain level to maintain the system.
All electric distributors must comply with the UFLS requirement established by their respective NERC region. When EKPC integrated into PJM in 2013, the cooperative was in the SERC region of the ERO.
Before EKPC’s integration, PJM’s OA documented a UFLS requirement for entities in the PJM’s Mid-Atlantic, West and South regions. But the OA was not changed with EKPC’s 2013 integration to incorporate the cooperative’s applicable UFLS requirement, and it wasn’t included in any of the regions.
In 2018, EKPC was added to PJM West when the RTO worked with stakeholders to clarify the region definitions in its governing documents. However, other entities included in PJM West are in the ERO’s ReliabilityFirst region, while EKPC remained in SERC, which has slightly different UFLS requirements.
Foster Cronin said a recent review of the region revisions showed “potential confusion” in EKPC’s appropriate UFLS requirement and needed to be corrected. She said the oversight did not create a reliability problem for the cooperative.
“We really wish for these changes to ensure there’s no confusion as to what is the appropriate under frequency load shedding requirements applicable for us,” Foster Cronin said.
The MRC will vote on the solution and corresponding OA revisions at its April 27 meeting.
Manual 1 Revisions Endorsed
The committee unanimously endorsed changes to Manual 1 as a part of the periodic review.
Bilge Derin, PJM senior engineer, reviewed the changes to Manual 1: Control Center and Data Exchange Requirements, saying the changes partially resulted from revisions in NERC standards CIP-012, COM-001 and EOP-008.
Minor changes were made throughout the manual, Derin said, including removing revision numbers from where NERC standards are referenced and replacing the term “member” with “PJM member” where applicable to keep the term uniform throughout the manuals.
In Section 2.5.6: Recovery Procedures, PJM clarified the loss of control center functionality procedures and documentation relating to EOP-008 and TO/TOP Matrix.
In Section 3.2.1.1: PJMNet Communications System, the language was clarified to ensure PJM is responsible for protecting all real-time assessment and real-time monitoring data through the PJMNet private network as the data is “in transit” between the PJM control centers and its routers. The RTO must also make sure all data is encrypted.
