New Data Collection Standards
The NEPOOL Reliability Committee (RC) voted July 16 to support new data collection standards for distributed energy resources (DERs), intended to aid the RTO in both real-time operations and longer-term planning studies.
While ISO-NE currently collects data using voluntary submissions, the new standards would require data submissions from distribution providers and transmission owners related to DER size, location and operating characteristics, said Dan Schwarting of ISO-NE.
“Uniformity in data submission will lead to better accuracy of load forecasting and studies at ISO-NE,” Schwarting said. The proposal now heads to the NEPOOL Participants Committee.
Affected System Operator Study Coordination
Brad Marszalkowski of ISO-NE outlined proposed tariff changes to coordinate affected system operator (ASO) studies with the new cluster study interconnection process, which was mandated by FERC Order 2023. (See Clean Energy Groups Respond to ISO-NE Order 2023 Filing.)
ASO studies are under the jurisdiction of the states and assess the impact of distributed generation projects on the transmission system and broader power grid. They are performed by the relevant transmission owner.
“ASO studies will have to coordinate with and respect ISO Cluster Studies,” Marszalkowski said. “This will naturally establish windows for the start and completion of ASO studies.”
Marszalkowski said the new ASO process would create a “state project submission window” that coincides with the ISO-NE cluster request window. ASO studies corresponding to each window would occur simultaneously with ISO-NE cluster studies. The studies would be required to account for ISO-NE interconnection requests and updated ISO-NE study information.
“ISO-NE will no longer consider one-at-a-time project additions,” Marszalkowski noted. “Determinations will be made solely based on the total aggregate of all projects submitted during the submission windows that are electrically close based on the screening criteria.”
Order 881 Changes
ISO-NE also discussed planning procedure changes associated with FERC Order 881, which requires transmission providers to adopt ambient adjusted line ratings for near-term transmission service requests and seasonal ratings for longer-term requests.
The commission accepted ISO-NE’s compliance proposal in 2023, subject to an additional filing by November 2024 to specify “timelines for calculating or submitting AARs.” The compliance will take effect in July 2025. (ER22-2357, see Order 881 Timelines Need Explaining, FERC Says.)
Michael Drzewianowski of ISO-NE said Order 881 compliance requires changes to the RTO’s Planning Procedure 7 (PP7), which “provides the general assumptions to be used in the calculation of facility ratings.”
For seasonal ratings, ISO-NE plans to use 12 seasons corresponding to each month, said Drzewianowski, outlining the ambient temperatures the RTO will use for each month under normal and emergency conditions.
To account for changing seasonal load shapes, ISO-NE plans to shift to a long-time emergency (LTE) rating period of four hours across the entire year, instead of the current LTE ratings of four hours in the winter and 12 hours in the summer.
Drzewianowski said ISO-NE will review stakeholder comments and changes to the PP7 appendices at the August RC meeting, targeting a vote in September.
