By Amanda Durish Cook
CARMEL, Ind. — MISO and PJM are close to embarking on their first major interregional transmission project after years of coming up short in identifying a joint effort worthy of the designation.
The RTOs say they will support the $21.6 million reconstruction of the 138-kV Michigan City-Trail Creek-Bosserman line in the northwestern corner of Indiana, a that project that qualifies as an interregional market efficiency project (IMEP) on their seam, according to MISO Senior Manager of System Planning Jarred Miland.
The RTOs have approved two portfolios of smaller targeted market efficiency projects in 2017 and 2018, but they have never agreed to an IMEP project until now.
“Both us and PJM think this is a good project. We want to move this forward,” Miland told MISO stakeholders at an Planning Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday.
PJM officials the following day said rebuilding the line was the best option and deemed the project its preferred solution after determining it passed a “reliability no-harm test.” The project will undergo a “second read” in November under PJM’s process.
Both RTOs say they plan to recommend the project to their respective boards later this year.
PJM customers stand to pay for the lion’s share of the line rebuild, with MISO being allocated just 10.85% — or about $2.4 million — of the full cost.
MISO expects the project to yield a 3.12:1 benefit-cost ratio, while PJM estimates a ratio of 2.63:1 based on its own calculations.
The project need was identified by MISO planners in this year’s Market Congestion Planning Study, part of the RTO’s annual Transmission Expansion Plan (MTEP) — the only such project to be recommended from the study. MISO said its congestion forecast this year was relatively low because of flattened demand and little price difference between generating units.
MISO board approval of the IMEP will likely be delayed until the RTO can get a cost allocation method in place for its market efficiency projects. MISO’s first cost allocation plan — which includes the IMEP cost allocation method — was stalled earlier this year when FERC raised concerns about cost causation. (See Key Details Change in MISO MEP Cost Allocation Plan.)
Miland said the project will be mentioned in the MTEP 19 report, but included in Appendix B — rather than Appendix A — of the report, which lists projects with a documented need not yet ready for construction, with costs not included in MTEP spending totals. MISO’s board plans to hold a separate vote to approve the IMEP after FERC approves MISO’s cost allocation filing.
While progress continues on MISO-PJM seams work, no projects have been recommended for the MISO-SPP seam. This year, planners emerged empty-handed after producing a coordinated system plan study, prompting more intense calls for process changes between the RTOs. (See MISO, SPP Empty-handed After 3rd Project Study.)
