MORGANTOWN – PJM Interconnection said Wednesday afternoon that its generation fleet and transmission system performed reliably through record electricity demand Wednesday morning while supporting neighboring systems on all fronts.
PJM said it reached a preliminary record for winter demand at around 8:15 a.m. with instantaneous peak load coming in at approximately 145,000 megawatts, while exporting nearly 8,000 MW to its neighbors.
This exceeded PJM’s all-time winter instantaneous peak of approximately 143,700 MW, set in February 2015, pending the availability of verified metered load data.
PJM’s Mike Bryson, senior vice president for Operations, said PJM and its member companies took a number of steps before the onset of the frigid cold that helped prepare the system for the most difficult periods Tuesday and Wednesday. These included: [BEGIN LIST]
Cold weather advisory and cold weather alert: Helps members get engaged with preparing for the cold weather;
Conservative operations declaration: Helps generators line up gas purchases with the gas market, especially over holiday weekends;
Maintenance outage recall: Maximizes generator availability by requiring generators that were out for maintenance to come back in service;
Low voltage alert: Maximizes transmission system capability;
Maximum generation alert: Issued Tuesday to alert neighboring regions that electricity exports from PJM may be curtailed, if necessary. [END LIST]
“We also worked closely with member companies to help resolve any cold-weather issues before the deep freeze set in,” Bryson said. “All of those steps served to help PJM and our members get ready for the cold weather. They have performed remarkably thus far, and I am grateful for their efforts.”
Bryson said significant demand – close to 140,000 MW – was forecast for Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, so Operations was continuing to monitor performance of the generation fleet and transmission systems.
PJM was exporting close to 8,000 MW of electricity to neighbors at the peak demand Wednesday morning and as much as 9,000 MW at other points in the so-called “arctic outbreak.” Bryson said interchange with neighbors can go both ways, and PJM has depended on its neighbors in the past.
PJM’s preliminary loads are calculated from raw telemetry data and are approximate figures. Verified metered loads are provided by electric distribution companies and represent the best-quality level of load within their zones, with adjustments to data occurring up to 90 days after the actual date.
