By Chris O’Malley

ST. PAUL, Minn. — MISO has a pile of 22 active recommendations made over the years by its Independent Market Monitor, all in various stages of progress.

One, which would optimize the interchange and improve price convergence with PJM and SPP, dates back to 2005.

“We are working through all those,” Jeff Bladen, MISO’s executive director of market design, said at last week’s Markets Committee of the Board of Directors. Bladen said action on some items has been delayed by technology upgrades and others by the need to reach agreement with neighboring regions.

His update on the status of Monitor David Patton’s State of the Market recommendations was instructional about the roadblocks that can stand in the way of even what arguably are the best ideas.

Dependencies

Of 15 past recommendations through the 2013 State of the Market Report, MISO is working to implement six. Two are “externally dependent” and the other two are “infrastructure-dependent.” Five are still being evaluated: one from 2008 and two each from 2010 and 2012.

Perhaps the best-known externally dependent recommendation is to eliminate the hurdle rate involving transfer of power between MISO’s southern and central regions, the subject of settlement talks with SPP. The IMM has recommended collecting transmission costs that may be payable to SPP and other parties under the settlement through a fixed charge. (See related story in MISO Market Committee Briefs.)

As an example of an infrastructure-dependent recommendation, Bladen cited a five-minute real-time settlement for generation, which he said is dependent on rule changes and replacement of the RTO’s settlement software. A virtual spread product is another example.

Board Chair Judy Walsh called for urgency on technology upgrades needed to address some recommendations, saying they should be identified by staff and vetted by the board “sooner rather than later.”

Director Baljit “Bal” Dail said he was curious if MISO tracks the time it takes to “close out” a recommendation. “I’m just trying to get a sense of [whether] things are progressing at the pace they should be progressing,” Dail said.

Bladen said MISO does not have such a metric but that it might be worth considering.

ELMP

Director Paul Feldman noted a past recommendation that has come to fruition — extended LMP — and asked whether it has achieved expectations.

ELMP allows fast-start resources that are either scheduled at limits or offline to set price, an effort to smooth price spikes and minimize uplift. (See “Extended LMP Starts” in MISO Board of Directors Markets Committee Briefs.)

Bladen said ELMP “has met our rather modest” expectations since it was initiated March 1. “We’ve seen noteworthy changes in price that reflects the kind of change we would have thought should occur given the design,” he said.

Bladen said MISO staff would provide a fuller report at the November Markets Committee meeting, when it will have eight months of operating data under the new rules.

Director Michael Curran drew laughter when he recommended that MISO provide a “scientific, wild-ass guess” as to when a recommendation might be completed.

Curran also recommended that staff include a chart indicating what recommendations have already been implemented. “Otherwise you’re just looking at backlog and not really getting the credit you should for the successes you’ve had,” he said.