The Markets and Reliability Committee approved a problem statement to protect intermittent generators (e.g., wind) from being assigned artificially depressed capacity values as a result of curtailments directed by PJM.

PJM began excluding all curtailed hours in its capacity calculations for the summer 2012 capacity auction. The removal of the curtailed hours can still hurt a generator’s capacity value, however, because curtailments generally occur during periods of high generation. While the curtailments often last only 10 minutes, PJM systems are programmed to remove any hour from the calculation that includes a curtailment, regardless of its duration.

The issue was assigned to the Planning Committee. The group will analyze the magnitude of the issue and evaluate alternate calculation methods and tariff and manual revisions required to implement them.