By Michael Kuser NEW YORK — New York’s grid is transitioning from a one-way transmission system to a multidirectional one, and utilities still need time to develop the analytical tools to understand how to deal with distributed energy resources. Panel left to right: Ben Pickard, National Grid Ventures; Chris Rauscher,...

By Rory D. Sweeney WASHINGTON — If anyone thought FERC dragging state and RTO stakeholders here for a technical conference might jolt everyone on the PJM playground into playing nice with each other, Robert Erwin of the Maryland Public Service Commission quickly disabused the standing-room-only crowd of that notion. Erwin...

By Rory D. Sweeney VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — It took months to get PJM’s latest stakeholder initiative on the capacity market started, but there is no shortage of interest now that it’s begun. More than 20 stakeholders attended the Capacity Construct/Public Policy Senior Task Force’s second meeting on Monday —...

Sponsors of a bill to increase Maryland’s renewable portfolio standard joined environmental advocates Jan. 5 in calling for the General Assembly to override Gov. Larry Hogan’s veto. Hogan | Official Website of the Governor of Maryland Rallying on the steps of the Maryland State House, Sen. Brian Feldman and Delegate...

By Rory D. Sweeney A consumer advocacy group filed a complaint with FERC on Monday saying PJM’s recent rate-increase request is “unprecedented” and failed to consider mitigating costs by limiting employees’ pay increases (ER17-249). Public Citizen’s Energy Program, based in D.C., filed the complaint in response to a member fee...

By Amanda Durish Cook CARMEL, Ind. — Tim Horger, manager of interregional coordination at PJM, said last week that MISO and PJM have agreed not to publicly talk about the issue of pseudo-tie congestion double-counting until a FERC complaint on the issue is resolved. Horger | © RTO Insider Some...

By Rory D. Sweeney Less than half of PJM stakeholders considering the addition of a seasonal capacity product favor a change in the current rules. Only 48% of members who voted in the Seasonal Capacity Resources Senior Task Force poll last week favored any change, while 52% chose the status...

By Rory D. Sweeney Preparing for next year’s termination of the Con Ed-PSEG “wheel,” PJM is using a three-pronged approach to coordinate stakeholder efforts through its Operating, Markets Implementation and Planning committees. Each committee received updates last week on Consolidated Edison’s decision not to renew the agreement, under which NYISO...

By Rory D. Sweeney Fighting a PJM proposal to impose uplift costs on up-to-congestion trades, the Financial Marketers Coalition last week enlisted one of the intellectual pioneers of electricity markets in its defense. Presenting the conclusions from his white paper on virtual trading, Harvard economist William Hogan told the Energy...

By Suzanne Herel FERC on Tuesday rejected PJM’s Tariff changes that would have exempted a capacity resource from nonperformance charges if it was following the RTO’s dispatch instructions and operating at an acceptable ramp rate during periods of high load. The changes, approved in April by the Members Committee after...