Plunging temperatures sent natural gas spot prices soaring again this week, prompting PJM today to seek approval from federal regulators to lift the $1,000/MWh price cap on generation.

FERC gave preliminary approval last week to rules drafted by NERC to protect the electric grid from geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) and a final OK to a reliability standard for frequency response.

PJM’s dispatch of demand response helped avoid the need to shed load during the polar vortex Jan. 7, when the RTO set a new winter demand record of about 141,500 MW.

The Planning Committee last week endorsed manual changes implementing PJM’s new capacity import limits.

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 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.

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.