PJM completes Ohio Valley Electric Corp. integration
New York — The PJM Interconnection integrated the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation as a new transmission zone within PJM at midnight Saturday, which includes 2,200 MW of coal-fired generation capacity along with 705 miles of 345-kilovolt transmission lines, the grid operator said Monday.
PRICING ISSUE
PJM also notified stakeholders Monday about “an issue” with posting the OVEC Residual Aggregate locational marginal price component of its posted day-ahead clearing prices for December 2, according to an email.
The issue from Saturday has been resolved, PJM spokesman Jeff Fields said in an email. PJM is still investigating the cause of the problem and will have additional information to post tomorrow, Shields said.
OVEC and its subsidiary Indiana-Kentucky Electric were formed in 1952 to provide power to uranium enrichment facilities near Portsmouth, Ohio, owned by the Atomic Energy Commission, a US Department of Energy predecessor.
OVEC owns and operates two coal-fired power plants, the 1,300-MW Clifty Creek Generating Station located along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, Indiana; and the 1,086-MW Kyger Creek Generating Station located on the Ohio River in Gallia County, Ohio.
Brian Chisling, OVEC’s corporate attorney said during a November 2017 PJM Markets and Reliability Committee meeting that the company has no plans to retire the units.
OVEC sells the full volume of its power output at cost to its eight electric utility and cooperative owners, the largest being American Electric Power, Buckeye Power and Duke Energy Ohio, with roughly 40%, 18% and 9% respective equity interests.
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the PJM tariff changes associated with the OVEC integration in February (ER18-459 and ER18-460). OVEC sells power to its offtakers through an inter-company power agreement that constitutes a commission-filed, cost-based power sales agreement that will terminate on June 30, 2040, according to FERC’s approval order.
STAKEHOLDER CONCERNS
Some parties raised concerns during the stakeholder process regarding various ways in which the OVEC integration could increase costs for PJM members or their customers…..
