By Amanda Durish Cook

MISO is considering moving ahead with a plan to streamline its report detailing the projects in its annual Transmission Expansion Plan (MTEP) beginning with this year’s.

Project Manager Sandy Boegeman on Wednesday told MISO’s Planning Advisory Committee that the RTO is considering removing brief histories of previous MTEPs, some descriptions of regional studies, an introduction to the resource adequacy construct, and descriptions of MTEP futures development and independent load forecasting.

Last month, MISO said it planned to reconfigure the MTEP report to emphasize the justifications and analyses behind the list of proposed projects while condensing planning process narratives. The RTO aims to create a more concise and readable report, which typically runs about 200 pages and always includes descriptions of the studies and processes used to recommend projects. (See MISO Considering Slimmed-down MTEP Report.)

MISO hopes the new format will help guide the RTO’s Board of Directors in its deliberations over project approvals, Boegeman said.

Jesse Moser, MISO director of economic and policy planning, said the RTO is also examining the accessibility and usability of the planning section of its website to ensure that information removed from the report is easier to locate online. He said the web improvements could take a few years to complete.

“We’re trying to do this in a way that retains what’s important,” Moser said.

Veriquest Group’s Dave Harlan said that removing futures development information from the report may inadvertently weaken its rationale for some transmission projects.

“To just sort of poke around on the website … is a burden that’s going to frustrate everyone,” Harlan said. He asked MISO to create a “definitive” appendix of website links in the report supporting the necessity of the projects in the plan.

Moser said he and his team would consider the idea and asked for additional stakeholder feedback by May 3.

PAC Chair Cynthia Crane urged stakeholders to think about what pieces of the report are essential and which should be memorialized. The PAC is scheduled to vote on whether to recommend the MTEP 19 report at its Oct. 16 meeting.