PJM wants a one-time waiver to avoid releasing 2,000 MW of capacity for the 2015/16 delivery year, when the RTO fears it may run short of resources due to retirements of coal-fired generation.

PJM officials told the Markets and Reliability Committee Dec. 18 that they would seek to postpone generation retirements — or accelerate planned new generation — to help the RTO ride through potential shortages next winter. (See PJM Seeks to Postpone Some Generation Retirements through 2015/16.)

On Dec. 24, PJM made two filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to put its plan in action.

In one, PJM asked for a one-time waiver on rules that would otherwise require it to release 2,000 MW of capacity in the Feb. 23 Third Incremental Auction for 2015/16 (ER15-738).

In the second, PJM proposed revising its Tariff to allow it to enter into capacity agreements made outside the Reliability Pricing Model auctions (ER15-739).

Officials told the MRC they would seek to forestall some of the estimated 9,500 MW of retirements expected next year as a result of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) and more than 2,000 MW being shut down by New Jersey’s High Energy Demand Day regulations.

In addition to offering reliability-must-run (RMR) compensation to delay retirements, officials said they are considering incentives to encourage some generation slated to come on line in delivery year 2016/17 to accelerate construction and launch earlier. In total, officials said they will attempt to secure as much as 2,500 MW of generation through April 2016.

In a related matter, PJM released its 2015 load forecast report. It includes a 2.6% reduction in the load forecast for 2018, due in part to a temporary change in modeling that aims to address over-forecasting in recent years. (See Model Change Results in Lower Load Forecast for PJM.)