By Rich Heidorn Jr.

FERC ruled last week that PJM transmission owners’ procedures regarding supplemental projects are not in compliance with Order 890, directing the TOs to file revisions within 60 days (EL16-71).

“As implemented, the transmission planning process governed by the PJM Operating Agreement is not providing stakeholders with the opportunity for early and meaningful input and participation in the transmission planning process, as required by Order No. 890,” the commission said.

The commission said it issued the Order to Show Cause because of testimony at a Nov. 12 technical conference. (See PJM TOs Defend Jurisdiction at FERC Conference.)

The commission cited complaints by Old Dominion Electric Cooperative and American Municipal Power concerning the TOs’ handling of supplemental projects — those not required for compliance with PJM’s reliability, operational performance or economic criteria, and not state public policy projects.

“Based on the comments received at the technical conference, it appears that some PJM transmission owners are conducting significant local transmission planning activities before the need for a supplemental project is brought to PJM for discussion in the stakeholder process,” the commission said. “In addition, certain of the PJM transmission owners appear to be identifying — and even taking steps toward developing — supplemental projects before providing any opportunity for stakeholders to participate in the development of those projects through the PJM [Regional Transmission Expansion Plan] process.”

The commission said the TOs must either propose revisions to the PJM Operating Agreement, revise their portions of the PJM Open Access Transmission Tariff or their individual Open Access Transmission Tariffs, or show cause why they should not be required to do so.

“Assuming that the PJM transmission owners file revisions to the OATT, we estimate that the commission would be able to issue our decision within approximately three months of the filing of such revisions,” FERC said.

200-kV Threshold Approved

In a separate order, the commission approved PJM’s proposal to exempt reliability upgrades on facilities below 200 kV from competitive windows under Order 1000 (ER16-1335).

PJM said such projects are almost always assigned to incumbent developers, and the change would enable its engineers to focus on problems more likely to result in a competitive greenfield project. (See “Low-Voltage Projects to be Exempted from Competitive Window Process,” MRC & Members Committee Briefs.)

The commission limited the exemption to projects within a single transmission zone, saying those involving two or more zones must be opened to a proposal window.

FERC also required PJM to clarify how it will identify transmission solutions for reliability violations on facilities below 200 kV. It said PJM must also provide it with reports on those projects for the next two planning cycles to enable the commission to monitor its implementation of the process.