CARMEL, Ind. — MISO will expedite review of a proposal to interconnect Foxconn’s massive electronics plant planned for southeastern Wisconsin months ahead of the RTO’s usual year-end approval schedule, stakeholders learned Wednesday.

The $140 million interconnection project to plug Foxconn’s $10 billion plant into We Energies’ network will move ahead “as needed to meet the December 2019 in-service date,” Lynn Hecker, MISO manager of expansion planning, said at a Feb. 14 Planning Advisory Committee meeting.

American Transmission Co. submitted the request for accelerated approval late last year, insisting that its proposed project cannot wait until usual approvals at the end of the year as part of MISO’s 2018 Transmission Expansion Plan. ATC has proposed constructing a 14-mile, 345-kV transmission line; a new 345/138-kV substation; and new underground 138-kV lines to connect the substation to a smaller Foxconn-owned substation near the plant. (See MISO Seeks Stakeholder Input on Foxconn Decision.) MISO’s decision was based on ATC’s forecasted load of 230 MW, although Foxconn says there’s potential for campus expansion at the site, possibly adding another 200 MW of load.

Stakeholders had little to say about the project, although some asked the RTO to make more widely circulated announcements when it wraps up expedited review studies and when it plans to announce expedited decisions.

— Amanda Durish Cook