VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — PJM staff is recommending a 27% winter reserve target, the same value adopted last year, as the RTO plans for generator maintenance.

The target is based on unit summer ratings and expressed as a percentage of the forecasted weekly peak load. It is derived from simulations of the 13-week winter period.

In coordinating generator maintenance schedules, operations will seek to preserve a 27% margin after removing planned outages. This margin is a guide and not an absolute requirement.

The Operating Committee will be asked to endorse the target at its Nov. 3 meeting.

PJM Won’t Change Transmission Outage Rule; Ups Monitoring

PJM has scrapped a proposed change to rules on long-duration transmission outages over concerns that it may be too restrictive for legitimate outages that cannot be planned in advance.

The current rule — which aims to identify long-term outages for the annual financial transmission rights auction — requires that outages scheduled for longer than 30 days be reported by Feb. 1 of the prior planning year.

PJM had considered amending the rule to also apply to individual outages totaling more than 30 days within an eight-week period.

Instead, PJM will monitor to ensure no one is circumventing the 30-day rule by breaking up long outages into multiple notices, said PJM’s Simon Tam.

If activity is detected that appears to go against the spirit of the rule, PJM will work with the transmission owner and enlist the Independent Market Monitor as necessary.

Proposal Aims to Increase Training, Certification Compliance

The System Operations Subcommittee has reached consensus on a PJM proposal designed to increase compliance with training and certification requirements, said Glen Boyle, manager of system operator training. (See “PJM Moves to Tighten Training, Certification Requirements” in PJM Operating Committee Briefs.)

Boyle said the subcommittee agreed with a proposal PJM presented at its Sept. 30 meeting that would quantify a company’s non-compliance and set an escalating set of responses.

If an operator is out of compliance, the company liaison and its Members Committee representative would be notified. The company’s compliance score would be based on a count of operators and months out of compliance.

For example, a company with one operator out of compliance for two months and a second operator out of compliance for three months would have a compliance score of five.

A score of five would trigger a written warning from PJM’s legal department. If the company’s score remained at five or above the following month, it would be reported to FERC as a violation of the PJM Operating Agreement and Tariff.

PJM also would require that operators who are out of compliance not be permitted to work their shifts.

— Suzanne Herel