MISO announced a third, 8-GW cycle of generation projects to enter its fast-tracked interconnection process, its largest cluster yet.
MISO’s expedited interconnection queue continued its theme of a high proportion of thermal resources, with gas plants outnumbering storage facilities on a capacity basis 5.8 GW to 2.2 GW. Storage accounted for eight entries, while gas submittals took the remaining seven slots.
In its last 15-count queue class, gas also tipped the scales and accounted for 4.3 GW of the 6-GW group. (See MISO Accepts 6 GW of Mostly Gas Gen in 2nd Queue Fast Lane Class.)
The grid operator said it expects this collection of projects to be in service no later than 2031.
This batch of expedited interconnections includes Northern Indiana Public Services Co.’s (NIPSCO’s) coal-to-gas transition at its R.M. Schahfer Generating Station. NIPSCO submitted two combined cycle plants totaling 2,639 MW. NIPSCO cited its 2024 integrated resource plan to back up the need for the plants, which was developed before the U.S. Department of Energy stepped in to prevent the Schahfer plant from retiring as planned at the end of 2025.
The Schahfer plant is on emergency stay-open orders through March 23. So far, DOE hasn’t let any of its 90-day operating extensions lapse, issuing a chain of orders before the last has a chance to expire. Schahfer also needs expensive, time-consuming repairs before the plant’s Unit 18 can function. (See Enviros Warn NIPSCO Against Rebuilding Coal Unit on DOE Emergency Order.)
NIPSCO also put forward 500 MW of battery storage at its Mitchell site in Gary, Lake, Ind. NIPSCO said both the Schahfer gas plants and Mitchell battery storage “are necessary for resource adequacy to serve growing data center, advanced manufacturing and other economic development project load requirements.”
Xcel Energy, DTE Electric, NextEra Energy, Swift Energy Storage, Hackett Energy Storage and Brickyard Energy Storage also submitted battery facility plans ranging from 100 MW to 300 MW in Michigan, Minnesota and Indiana.
Xcel Energy’s plans included its Sherco South BESS project, part of the utility’s planned Sherco Energy Hub in central Minnesota, which reimagines the site around the coal-fired Sherburne County Generating Plant (Sherco) into a solar and storage format. Xcel closed Sherco Unit 2 in 2023 and plans to idle units 1 and 3 in 2026 and 2030, respectively.
Gas plans, on the other hand, involve one of Entergy Louisiana’s three plants to serve the sprawling Meta data center in Richland Parish, a 478-MW plan from Entergy Texas, and Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s 250-MW turbine in South Dakota.
Gas submittals from Alliant Energy subsidiaries Interstate Power and Light Co. for a 750-MW plant in north-central Iowa and Wisconsin Power and Light Co. for a 150-MW turbine addition in eastern Wisconsin also made the cut.
“The interest we continue to see reflects both the urgency and the opportunity to develop a clear, timely path to interconnection, and [the Expedited Resource Addition Study] is helping us provide that in the near term,” Vice President of System Planning Aubrey Johnson said of the batch of applicants.
MISO said that, to date, its queue fast lane has attracted 53 applicants representing almost 27 GW of nameplate capacity, which the RTO has either agreed to study or awaits approval.
The RTO said it has completed studies on more than 11 GW of proposed capacity and the developers behind the first 10 projects already have struck generator interconnection agreements.
MISO’s temporary queue express lane is capped at 68 projects, and MISO said it will entertain the last project submissions through mid-2027 before the process winds down on Aug. 31, 2027, if not sooner.
Johnson said the queue fast lane is part of MISO’s larger work to get its regular interconnection queue unstuck and pick up the pace on achieving a one-year processing timeline.
Express Lane Dropouts
Developers have withdrawn eight projects since the fast-tracked interconnection lane opened in 2025.
The most recent projects to drop off are two NextEra battery storage projects in Hoosier Energy’s territory. NextEra withdrew its 275-MW Sandcut and 400-MW Merom four-hour storage projects in mid-February. They were meant to serve a Solvenz data center.
NextEra also shelved its expedited request for its restart of the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa. The plant is set to rumble back to life by early 2029. Google signed a 25-year deal to buy power from the plant in October 2025. By November 2025, NextEra withdrew its fast-track request, though plans to restart the plant remain.
Alliant Energy’s Interstate Power and Light Co. also scrapped its request for expedited processing on a planned, 950-MW natural gas plant near Duane Arnold in November.
MISO confirmed to RTO Insider that any projects it lists as “withdrawn” were withdrawn by their respective developers.
The RTO also said it allows other developers to take the place of withdrawn projects only if it can be done quickly. The grid operator said it doesn’t backfill fast lane spots if the developer doesn’t withdraw its project before it begins its round of studies.
