PPL Electric Utilities activates dynamic line rating

PPL Electric Utilities announced Monday it had activated dynamic line rating for Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM) operators.

Part of a project involving three transmission lines in northeastern Pennsylvania, the data streaming is expected to expand capacity and promote market efficiency on the three historically congested lines. The company said that dynamic line rating streams information from evolving weather conditions to adjust the ratings that govern the lines’ capacity. Using the measured data parameters closer to real-time allows reliable operations to protect DLR facilities while reducing congestion.

The move, the company said, is part of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order that mandates regional transmission organizations like PJM and independent system operators should establish and maintain systems and procedures to accommodate projects from transmission owners, like PPL Electric, to implement DLR technology.

The technology was installed on three 230 kV lines, the two-circuit Susquehanna-Harwood path and the Juniata-Cumberland line. It will save PPL Electric Utilities customers $23 million annually in congestion costs.

Since Oct. 6, when the initiative was launched, forecast and real-time thermal facility rating updates from the DLR systems have been leveraged for reliability and markets processes governing the three lines. Information about the DLRs and the DLRs’ forecasts can be found on the PJM.com website.

The project was implemented with PJM and its stakeholders. PJMs Dynamic Line ratings Task Force began work on Sept. 30 to explore and expand stakeholder considerations related to DLR implementations, markets, and planning, including impacts on the auction revenue rights market, the financial transmission rights market, and seasonal line ratings.