230 kV Fault in Dominion Zone Triggered PJM's Largest Load Transfer, About 3,800 MW
PJM's Matthew Wharton briefed the Operating Committee on August 6 about the July 22 fault in Dominion's zone. PJM said the resulting ACE Limit excursion recovered within 9 minutes, inside the 30-minute window required by reliability standard BAL-001-2 R2.
Why it matters → PJM said it and Dominion continue to jointly review the event and its system impacts, and that PJM is evaluating potential enhancements to reliability requirements, including consideration of existing and future industry ride-through standards and practices.■ NERC is on track to file, by December 31, 2026, requirements addressing the integration of Computational Loads onto the BPS, under FERC Docket RD26-7-000, which directs NERC to file by that date.■
A 230 kV transmission line fault occurred within the Dominion zone on July 22, and approximately 3,800 MW of load transferred to back-up power — the largest load transfer PJM has experienced.1
PJM's Manager of Reliability Engineering, Matthew Wharton, briefed the Operating Committee on August 6, 2026.2
PJM said the Balancing Authority ACE Limit excursion recovered within 9 minutes, inside the 30-minute recovery window required by reliability standard BAL-001-2 R2.6
Coverage notes
Gridlight’s notes on what we looked for and did not find; these statements are Gridlight’s own and are not claim-checked against archived sources.
- This article is based on PJM and Dominion's preliminary presentations to the PJM Operating Committee on August 6, 2026; Dominion's formal RCA had not been completed as of that briefing, and PJM's presentation described its findings as preliminary and subject to change.
- No PJM stakeholder proposal, problem statement, or vote arising from this event had been identified as of August 6, 2026; PJM said only that it is evaluating potential enhancements to reliability requirements.