Markets & Operations

Drivers of Uplift

Uplift payments are made to market participants for operating a unit under specific conditions as directed by PJM to ensure that they recover their total offered costs when market revenues are insufficient or when their dispatch instructions diverge from their dispatch schedule. There are many possible drivers of uplift payments. Below are some of the more common drivers of uplift payments, as well as links to the data available to explore those drivers.

Additional information can be found on the Market Operations Price Transparency issue page, FERC Docket No. AD14-14-000 PDF and FERC Order 844 PDF. An introduction to Uplift can be found on the Understanding Uplift and Out-of-Market Payments page on the Learning Center.

Uplift Reporting

The monthly markets reports found on the Reports & Notices page contain specific information on days where uplift charges were unusually high.

By Transmission Zone: Charges | Credits (daily)
By Generator: Credits (monthly)
Demand Response Resource: Credits (monthly)

Most Common Drivers Impacting Uplift

Congestion

Transmission congestion impacts the commitment, dispatch and prices on the system and can result in uplift charges.

Transmission Constraints: Day Ahead | Real Time

PJM has the ability to adjust internal constraint penalty factors (also known as Marginal Value Limit (MVL)) in order to reflect system operational needs and the cost of controlling actions with an effective resource to relieve congestion. When real-time personnel identify that the cost of controlling actions are not being properly reflected in pricing, the penalty factor will be increased or decreased as explained in the following guidelines: PJM Dispatch Guidelines to Adjust Internal Constraint Penalty Factors.

Demand & Load Forecast

If the actual system load is notably different than the forecasted load, due to weather changes or other factors, it can drive high uplift charges. PJM posts data on forecasted and actual load.

Historical Load Forecast
Preliminary Hourly Load (Posted the following day, but may contain inaccuracies)
Estimated Hourly Load (Posted a few days after the operating day, adjusted for accuracy)

Emergency Procedure Events

To ensure reliability and integrity of the bulk electric system, PJM can issue an emergency procedure.  Such actions can be a driver of uplift charges.

Emergency Procedures

Generator Market Offer Data

Generator unit operating parameters (such as minimum run time, number of daily starts, etc.) can impact uplift charges. PJM publishes detail on offers by generators into the PJM Day-Ahead Energy Market. This data is posted on a four-month lag and unit identities are masked, per Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requirements.

Daily Energy Market Offer Data

Interchange

Exchange of power through sales and purchases between PJM participants and neighboring systems can impact the overall power balance and sometimes drive uplift charges.

Actual/Schedule Summary Report

Real-Time Load & Reserve Megawatts

Load and reserve megawatts are units called on in real time to meet load and reserve requirements

Real-Time Load & Reserve Megawatts Report

Outages

Outages of transmission or generation equipment can be a driver of uplift charges. Unplanned outages can require additional generation to maintain reliability. Due to confidentiality, PJM does not publish information on specific generation outages, but does post aggregated generation outage level data.

Transmission Outages
Generation Outages:
AggregateForecasted | Seven Days by Type

Reactive Voltage Support

System transmission outages or system conditions can cause voltage issues in corresponding areas for which reactive service charges are being settled. The need to run units for reactive power to control voltage issues can be a driver of uplift charges.

Self-Scheduled Generation Megawatts

Generation resources that self-schedule can impact PJM’s real-time dispatch operations and locational marginal pricing resulting in uplift charges.

Self-Scheduled Generation Megawatts Report

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