Enhanced inverters serving solar generators and other asynchronous generation will be required to modify their active power in response to system frequency under new rules approved by the Planning Committee Thursday. The rules would also require inverters to autonomously provide dynamic reactive support.

The rules would only apply to new generators.

The Markets and Reliability Committee will hear a first read of the new rules at its Nov. 30 meeting. PJM hopes to win stakeholder approval in time to file the rule with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in February.

Manual 14A Changes

The committee approved changes to Manual 14A that create a pre-application process for new and existing generation resource additions of 20 MW or less in compliance with FERC Order 792. Potential interconnection customers will have to submit a formal written request and a $300 processing fee. PJM is requesting these changes be effective beginning Nov. 1. (See PC Starts Work on Small Generator Interconnection Changes.)

Installed Reserve Margin

The committee approved leaving PJM’s Installed Reserve Margin at 15.7% for planning year 2018, unchanged from 2017.

A preliminary reserve requirement study shows the need for a 0.1% increase based on the PJM load shape and another 0.1% from capacity model changes. But these increases are offset by a 0.2% expected increase from imports under PJM’s capacity benefit margin.

PJM is currently analyzing how the new Capacity Product proposal would affect its calculation of its forecast pool requirement (FPR). PJM calculates FPR using the IRM and the average XEFORd, which is the average EFORd excluding outside management control events (OMCs). The proposal would change the definition of an OMC event to make it more restrictive. PJM staff said that they expect the FPR to be slightly lower as a result of the changes.