Responding to a stakeholder query, MISO staff have determined that it’s appropriate and possible for capacity import limits between local resource zones to bind in the RTO’s annual Planning Resource Auction.

MISO says that while, historically, the local clearing requirement has always bound before the CIL, it is “mathematically possible and reasonable” for CILs to be more restrictive than LCRs.

In this year’s capacity auction, MISO Local Resource Zone 3 in Iowa and Zone 6 in Indiana and Kentucky came closest to binding on their CIL, with Zone 3 coming within 938 MW and Zone 6 within 1,290 MW. MISO said the two zones could have bound if either the LCR or amount of exports varied.

During a July 11 Resource Adequacy Subcommittee meeting, MISO engineer Matt Sutton said it remains “highly unlikely that the capacity import limit” will bind in future capacity auctions, although that could be subject to multiple variables, such as transmission transfer capability.

“Though we’ve not seen a capacity import limit bind, it is a necessary parameter in the auction,” Sutton said.

Some stakeholders said they could not understand how CILs could bind before LCRs. WPPI Energy’s Steve Leovy said MISO staff have previously told him that CILs should not be enforced. Sutton said he thought MISO staff responsible for resource adequacy would disagree with that viewpoint.

Other stakeholders pointed out that market participants can replace capacity from other resources at midyear and that MISO must still ensure that import limits are not violated.

RTO staff committed to more discussion on the topic at future RASC meetings.

Stakeholders Quiet on Uncertain OMS-MISO Survey Results

Stakeholders offered muted reaction to this year’s annual resource adequacy survey by MISO and the Organization of MISO States, which predicts adequate reserves through 2019 but is less certain about thereafter.

“It’s important to keep in mind that this is a point-in-time forecast,” Ryan Westphal, MISO resource studies manager, told stakeholders.

Over the next five years, MISO’s footprint could see anything from a 7.5-GW surplus to a 4.5-GW shortfall. The results were less optimistic than last year’s survey, which showed MISO would have anywhere from 0.7 to 7.3 GW of excess resources in 2018-2022.

Westphal said the forecast is even more uncertain as MISO continues its conversion from coal generation to a mixture of gas, wind, solar and load-modifying resources.

Stakeholders asked why Zone 4 in Illinois experienced such a large dip in forecasted reserves year over year. Westphal attributed the decline to a combination of retirements, potential retirements and changes in generator performance.

Coalition of Midwest Power Producers’ Mark Volpe asked if MISO adjusts survey responses to reflect interzonal transactions that may go unreported. Westphal said MISO staff reach out to load-serving entities for clarification on some survey responses.

— Amanda Durish Cook