Natural gas, wind made increased contributions to PJM fuel mix this winter

PJM Interconnection recently reviewed the grid’s performance this winter, highlighting its reliability and the increased contributions of natural gas and wind.

“The PJM grid came through the 2018-2019 winter reliably in the face of extreme temperatures and high electricity demand, confirming that the grid is strong, diverse, and dependable,” PJM said in a post on its blog. “Electricity was supplied throughout this winter by a diverse set of resources, including natural gas, coal, nuclear and renewables. We also gained a number of important insights into grid operations, market trends and fuel security.”

PJM highlighted the cold spell that occurred between Jan. 28-31. During the cold spell, forced outages were slightly higher than during normal winter operations.

“Overall, generator performance was good and continued to show market improvement over the 2013-2014 polar vortex,” PJM said.

PJM noted that the fuel mix this winter was relatively similar to the 2018 cold snap. The percentage of natural gas-fired generation increased due to lower gas prices in 2019 as compared to 2018. The percentage of coal-fired generation decreased partly due to the retirement of about 3,300 megawatts (MW) of coal units between January 2018 and February 2019.

All fuel-supply related outages fell by more than 50 percent. During the peak demand of Jan. 31, gas supply outages were 2,930 megawatts compared to 5,913 MW during the 2018 cold snap. PJM attributed this improvement to generators “firming up” their gas supply contracts, pipeline expansions, better gas-electric coordination and the relatively short duration of the cold weather.

PJM also said that wind generation hit a record output on Jan. 9, reaching 7,808 MW. The contribution of wind to the overall energy mix was significantly above its capacity commitment.

PJM also noted on Jan. 31, Synchronized Reserve Market prices in PJM were at or near zero for 19 of 24 hours, suggesting that those reserves have little or no value.

“The price of procuring reserves does not always reflect their value, which is a continuing problem in the PJM markets.” PJM said. “Synchronized reserves can provide power to the grid within 10 minutes, or quickly remove electricity demand, and are crucial to reliability.”

PJM plans to file a proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to update how reserve prices are formulated.