Members agreed last week to move forward with an initiative that could result in reduced restrictions on Up-to Congestion transactions.

As expected, PJM transmission planners said last week they will recommend the PJM Board of Managers approve FirstEnergy’s proposed $8 million congestion-relief upgrade in the MetEd zone.

Sub-zero temperatures from Toledo to Tennessee pushed PJM to its limits last week as the RTO overcame the loss of nearly 40,000 MW of generation during an arctic blast that set a new winter demand record.

PJM overcharged members by more than $25 million in reactive service charges last year and will begin providing refunds this month.

With two new types of demand response about to be introduced, PJM members last week took steps to clarify rules on substitutions and maintenance outages for the products.

PJM is adding more items to the to-do list resulting from the September heat wave, during which officials ordered limited load sheds to prevent a wider transmission collapse.

Fearing a potential shortage of reactive power, PJM last week won stakeholder support for an initiative to consider requiring that renewables add 'smart' inverters.

Below is a summary of 11 new recommendations resulting from PJM’s final report on the September 2013 heat wave. This is in addition to 11 recommendations made immediately after the events of Sept. 9-11.

PJM overcame the loss of nearly 40,000 MW of generation yesterday, keeping the lights on in the second day of an arctic blast that set a new winter demand record.

PJM operators dispatched demand response this morning after cutting voltages and calling on spinning reserves last night as frigid temperatures stressed generators and created record loads across the RTO.