MISO has assembled 10 generation finalists to enter its first interconnection queue fast track, and the list includes five natural gas proposals, three solar farms, one wind farm and a battery storage facility.  

About 4.3 GW of the projects’ combined installed maximum capacity of nearly 5.3 GW would come from natural gas generation. The projects under evaluation span six states and have in-service dates ranging from January 2027 to August 2028. MISO whittled the list down from 47 applications. (See 26.5 GW of Mostly Gas Gen Compete for MISO’s Sped-up Grid Treatment.)  

The RTO said it continues to evaluate the remaining 37 proposals for inclusion in upcoming study cycles. MISO plans to study up to 10 generation projects per quarter, with a maximum of 68 projects, before it retires the temporary express lane process Aug. 31, 2027. The fast track aims to get necessary generation interconnected sooner than MISO’s regular queue currently allows.  

MISO said the first cycle of generation projects to enter the expedited study process were selected by a combination of the timestamp of their application submission and application withdrawals, a review of common constraints near the project and developers’ ability to rectify shortcomings in their applications prior to the study kickoff.  

“The first 10 projects cover all three regions of MISO, stretching from Louisiana to Minnesota,” MISO Senior Vice President of Planning and Operations Jennifer Curran said in a press release.  

Curran said each project “must meet rigorous standards to make sure only necessary and feasible proposals move forward.” 

Applicants had to identify a specific resource adequacy need their projects would address and secure a blessing from their relevant regulatory authority to be considered.   

Entergy La.’s Gas Plants for Meta Make the List

Entergy Louisiana’s proposed 1.64-GW gas plant, intended to meet the upward of 2 to 2.3 GW Meta will need to operate its $10 billion, hyperscale data center, is the largest on the list. (See Louisiana PSC Approves 3 Controversial Gas Plants Ahead of Schedule for Meta Data Center.) The Franklin Farms units are two of the three Entergy Louisiana would need to build to keep Meta’s facility powered.  

Invenergy’s proposed 1.2-GW gas plant in Kenosha County, Wis., to address a 1.75- to 2-GW need among Wisconsin Electric customers is the second-biggest project.  

Otter Tail Power is the sole battery facility to make the cut. The 75-MW Hoot Lake Battery Energy Storage System is proposed to serve a need highlighted in Minnesota’s Integrated Resource Plan.  

MISO also agreed to study Interstate Power and Light Co.’s separate requests for a 750-MW combustion turbine and 350-MW wind farm in central Iowa to help serve a 3.2 to 3.5-GW projected need in MISO’s Local Resource Zone 3.  

Other contenders in the fast lane include: MidAmerican Energy’s 263-MW natural gas combustion turbine in Adair County, Iowa; Lincoln Capital Land’s 125-MW solar farm to serve City Water Light & Power’s unmet needs from generation retirements in downstate Illinois; Ameren Missouri’s 300-MW solar farm in the northern portion of the state; Minnesota Power’s 85-MW Boswell Solar Project in Itasca County, Minn.; and an upgrade of the gas turbine at Minnesota Municipal Power Agency’s Faribault Energy Park in southern Minnesota that requires 60 MW of additional interconnect capacity.  

Curran called the queue fast track a “critical tool we can use to support reliability as we work toward long-term improvements in the interconnection process.”  

MISO plans to accept another round of applications for expedited study in early November and begin studying them at the beginning of December.