Dive Brief:
- The Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s board on Thursday approved a $21.9 billion long-range transmission plan that includes building a 765-kV backbone across the grid operator’s Midwest region.
- The 765-kV projects, including some that will connect to the PJM Interconnection’s 765-kV system, will help MISO handle load growth, its shifting generation resource mix and extreme weather, Jeremiah Doner, the grid operator’s director of cost allocation and competitive transmission, said during a briefing held by the American Council on Renewable Energy.
- Along with the “Tranche 2.1” regional projects included in MISO’s 2024 Transmission Expansion Plan, the board approved $6.7 billion in local projects and a set of Joint Targeted Interconnection Queue projects between the MISO footprint and the Southwest Power Pool that will cost $1.7. MISO expects the enire plan will cost about $30 billion.
Dive Insight:
MISO estimates that its Long Range Transmission Planning Tranche 2.1 projects will produce about $23 billion to $72 billion in net benefits over 20 years through avoided capacity costs, improved reliability and decarbonization, among other factors.
“Our Tranche 2.1 portfolio … is a major leap forward for the MISO footprint, and in particular our Midwest region,” Doner said.
The 765-kV lines, expected to total about 1,800 miles, will enable power flows across MISO’s central Midwest region that will be needed under different weather patterns, while relieving congestion and resolving local constraints, MISO said. In its eastern region, the Tranche 2.1 lines will better tie into the existing 765-kV network, unlocking generation and allowing increased transfers into and across the region, according to the grid operator.
Tying into PJM’s 765-kV system in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio will strengthen MISO’s interconnections with MISO’s neighbors, Doner said, noting that regional transmission is needed to bolster interregional power flows. “If you build out your regional network, that'll also pay dividends in future interregional work as well,” Doner said.
If approved by state regulators, MISO expects the regional projects would come online from 2032 through 2034.
The Tranche 2.1 portfolio builds on MISO’s roughly $10.3 billion Tranche 1 plan, approved by the grid operator’s board in mid-2022. Those projects are advancing through state approval processes.
“Overall, Tranche 1 projects, for the most part, are making great progress,” Doner said, noting that Minnesota and North Dakota utility regulators have already approved some in their states.
However, there is uncertainty about projects in Iowa where a state law giving incumbent utilities the right of first refusal to build MISO-approved projects was found to violate the state’s constitution, according to Doner. Also, a federal court on Dec. 6 stayed Indiana’s ROFR law, finding the LS Power companies were likely to succeed in their claim that the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause.
“MISO doesn't care how that lands,” Doner said about Iowa. “The main thing we want is getting these transmission projects in service … Our biggest concern is the longer that uncertainty is out there, the longer it potentially prevents projects from getting in service.”
The progress MISO has made by approving its transmission expansion plan is “momentous,” but major work remains for next year, including updating its “futures” scenarios that underpin its modeling, according to Brian Drumm, director of regional policy and RTO engagement for ITC Holdings, a transmission company.
“The futures have already grown stale, so we need to, as stakeholders, dive in, refresh those planning futures and see what other needs do we yet need to address,” Drumm said during the ACORE briefing.
Among MISO’s challenges, it expects wind and solar will produce 56% of the electricity in its footprint in 2030 and that its load could grow by 60% by 2040, driven mainly by data centers, green hydrogen and transportation, according to a presentation to the grid operator’s board on Thursday.
Those changes are occurring while MISO’s interconnection queue is overwhelmed, according to the presentation. While MISO is working to reform its queue process, the grid operator is considering a fast-track interconnection review process for generating projects needed for resource adequacy. MISO aims to file an “expedited resource adequacy study” process by Feb. 28 for approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It plans to ask that the new process take effect on June 1.
