Manual Revisions for Interconnection Process Overhaul Sent to MRC

PJM’s Heather Reiter updated the Operating Committee on the status of several manual revisions codifying the interconnection process overhaul during its July 13 meeting. Each manual was reviewed and endorsed by the relevant standing committee last week and will be moving on to the Markets and Reliability Committee on July 26. (See FERC Approves PJM Plan to Speed Interconnection Queue.)

The manuals were endorsed by the Planning Committee, Market Implementation Committee and OC by acclamation throughout the week with minimal discussion. During first reads in June, stakeholders praised the cooperative nature of the manual revision process.

The manuals lay out a cluster approach to studying the grid impacts of generation interconnection requests that will begin the analysis on a first-ready, first-serve basis. In addition to grouping studies together, the new paradigm aims to speed more projects through the interconnection process by having project developers pay deposits increasing in scale as their studies progress.

The transitional phase leading into the new way of studying projects also began last week with the aim of clearing the backlog of projects that accumulated during the previous serial methodology. PJM states that it plans to complete analysis on over 260 GW of projects studied over the next three years, many of which will be renewable generation.

On July 10, PJM opened a 60-day window for developers participating in the transitional queue to post readiness requirements, and it plans to begin processing projects with minimal system impacts through a “fast-lane” process in September.

System Operations Report

Wildfire smoke causing lower-than-expected temperatures and elevated load on the Juneteenth holiday contributed to forecast load error in June peaking at 2.82% and having an hourly error rate of 1.79%, according to the July systems operations report PJM’s Stephanie Schwarz presented to the OC. (See RTOs Report Diminished Solar Output, Loads as Wildfire Smoke Passes.)

The 6 p.m. day ahead forecast for June 19 had the highest deviation with an error of nearly 9% for the peak hour. Following high forecast error on Christmas Eve, which has been credited as being a contributor to the impact of the December 2022 winter storm, New Year’s Eve and Easter, stakeholders have been discussing the role of holidays in forecasting.

Following the spread of wildfire smoke across the northeast on June 5 and 6, PJM said a drop in expected temperatures led to decreased load, which offset diminished solar output. Forecast error for June 6 was just over 6%.