Below is a summary of the issues scheduled to be brought to a vote at the Markets and Reliability and Members committees Thursday. Each item is listed by agenda number, description and projected time of discussion, followed by a summary of the issue and links to prior coverage. RTO Insider...

By Kathy Larsen The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was within its rights to approve PJM’s controversial capacity market rule changes in 2011, a somewhat reluctant federal appeals court ruled Feb. 20, rejecting challenges from New Jersey, Maryland and others. The court also upheld FERC’s approval of changes opposed by the...

Members endorsed rules describing when economic demand response is eligible for compensation, over the objections of some demand response providers, who said they are unfair. The changes to Manual 11: Energy & Ancillary Services Market Operations specify that economic DR will be compensated at full Locational Marginal Pricing for “demand...

A proposed manual change on compensation for demand response prompted a protest from curtailment service provider Icetec Energy Services Thursday. Icetec representative John Webster said one of the changes proposed by PJM goes beyond the ministerial detail included in manuals and should receive a full stakeholder hearing as a potential...

Wind power output can be adjusted to support power system reliability, instead of the rest of the system having to adjust to wind, a National Renewable Energy Laboratory study concluded. The study developed designs for new ancillary services and tested the use of active power control at the National Wind...

PJM last week began offering new ways to download Locational Marginal Price data from the PJM website with the introduction of a “data miner” application. PJM Vice President for Market Operations Stu Bresler said the application was developed in response to stakeholder requests for a more efficient ways to download...

The volume and magnitude of changes PJM is attempting to impose on demand response raise the question of whether the high-flying sector is still a growth business or one in retreat. Comverge Inc. sees the industry as under an assault that threatens its growth. “The Commission should not allow PJM...

PJM generators told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week that it should go beyond PJM’s qualification rules for demand response providers — with some proposing that planned DR resources be banned from the capacity market altogether. Seven generators and two generator trade groups filed comments last week following a...

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff signaled Wednesday that the commission may require PJM to change rules requiring demand response providers to provide “sell offer plans” in order to participate in capacity auctions. At a nearly four-hour technical conference, members of FERC’s Office of Energy Market Regulation (OEMR), Office of General...

AES Laurel Mountain (Source: DOE) On Laurel Mountain, W.V., AES Corp. installed 32 MW of battery storage to support its 98 MW wind farm. The project provides PJM with regulation service and allows AES to smooth minute-to-minute fluctuations in output from its turbines. In Hazle Township, Pa., Beacon Power is...