Load Power Factor Audits

Dean LaForest of ISO-NE presented the results of the RTO’s 2023/24 load power factor (LPF) audit, which found most regional LPF areas to be noncompliant with the standards for low-load, high-voltage conditions.

The system generally graded out better on the standards applying to high-load, low-voltage conditions. However, within regional areas found to be compliant with the standards, regional entities frequently were out of compliance with the standards, ISO-NE found.

LaForest said ISO-NE found “no significant improvement year-over-year in LPF zone compliance.” He said gaining more insight into transmission and distribution operators’ systems “should help focus efforts on where compliance improvements within a zone are needed the most.”

He noted that ISO-NE will share more specific details of the audit directly with the region’s transmission and distribution operators.

Transmission Cost Allocations

Also at the NEPOOL Reliability Committee (RC), stakeholders approved transmission cost allocations for a pair of Eversource infrastructure replacement projects.

The projects, located in Connecticut, include relay replacements on a substation and replacements of aging and deteriorating transmission structures. The projects combined have an estimated $15 million in pool transmission facility costs.

Transmission Outage Scheduling

Anthony Stevens of ISO-NE discussed a series of minor changes to the RTO’s operating procedures governing transmission outage scheduling. The changes will explicitly allow the RTO to approve long-term transmission outages without first having to issue an interim approval of the outages. The changes also clarify the definitions of outage statuses and add language about “alternate dates” used for repositioning outages.

Stevens also presented changes to the RTO’s operating procedures for metering and telemetering criteria. ISO-NE proposes to expand the equipment temperature range to allow for “additional conditions in which data center type HVAC redundancy is in place,” Stevens said.

ISO-NE plans to seek a vote on the operating procedure changes at the RC in April.

Also at the meeting, stakeholders voted to support changes to ISO-NE operating procedures regarding protection outages, settings and coordination. ISO-NE proposes to “add language clarifying that automatic sectionalizing schemes do not require OP-24 Appendix D forms.”