MISO and PJM will begin creating an alternative to their current pseudo-tie market rules during a Feb. 18 joint and common market meeting. The discussion will coincide with the retirement of MISO’s pseudo-tie task team in February.

In the 2016/17 planning year, PJM expects MISO to request 2,061 MW worth of new pseudo-ties. PJM has said it wants to address immediate concerns before June 1 and explore long-term alternatives to its current agreement with MISO sometime after. Among other changes, the RTOs want to develop an outage notification process, better firm flow entitlement considerations, accurate pricing based on unit location, calculations dealing with congestion and market-to-market settlements and improved LMP convergence. MISO and PJM staff met on Jan. 5 to review a preliminary operating guide.

Kent Feliks, American Electric Power’s manager of regulatory and RTO policy, asked if the proposed changes stemming from the meeting might affect pseudo-tie requests that are scheduled for March. Kim Sperry, MISO’s director of market engineering, said the Tariff changes resulting from the joint meeting might include an option for existing pseudo-ties to continue under current rules or adopt the new ones. MISO Senior Director of Regional Operations David Zwergel said the issue would be long-term with potential Tariff changes and “lots of discussion,” and he didn’t foresee instantaneous changes.

The RTOs’ meeting signals the end of MISO’s pseudo-tie task team, created last year. “We don’t plan on extending the task team. Its six-month life has run its course, and it’s served its duty,” Zwergel said, adding that remaining pseudo-tie issues could be assigned to the Planning Advisory Committee.

The Steering Committee unanimously passed a motion to assign two immediate pseudo-tie issues to the PAC: concern that the current transmission service request evaluation processes “do not appropriately capture pseudo-tie impacts to MISO’s transmission system” and whether pseudo-tied resources have an “obligation to inform the native balancing authority of the intent to suspend or retire.”

Stakeholder Redesign Continues with Training, Resource Adequacy Charter and Management Plan

Michelle Bloodworth, MISO’s executive director of external and stakeholder affairs, said stakeholder redesign training for chairs and vice chairs of committees and subcommittees should be completed by May.

Bloodworth called the redesign a “landmark decision,” saying it will reduce MISO’s stakeholder bodies by 29% and meetings by more than 20%.

She also said implementing the redesign shouldn’t interrupt other work in MISO’s entities. “Everyone is very cognizant that we don’t want to halt any work that’s moving through committees,” she said.

“I look forward to this time next year us taking a look back on [the progress of the stakeholder process],” MISO President and CEO John Bear said at an informational forum a day earlier.

Now, MISO is focusing on the timely posting of agenda information ahead of meetings. Part of the stakeholder redesign stipulates the posting of meeting materials seven days in advance of parent entity meetings. Bloodworth said in 2015, materials were posted on-time about 65% of the time for the PAC, Market Subcommittee and Reliability Subcommittee. She suggested that MISO parent entities strive for a 75% goal of on-time material posting ahead of meetings in 2016.

Under the redesign, MISO has already eliminated the Trading Hubs Task Force and created a Resource Adequacy Subcommittee (RASC) that will consolidate two working groups and a task force. (See MISO Redesign Proceeds with New Committee.)

The Steering Committee approved a draft charter and management plan for the newly formed RASC, set to replace the Supply Adequacy Working Group, Demand Response Working Group and the Electric and Natural Gas Coordination Task Force.

“The objective of the Resource Adequacy Subcommittee (RASC) is to provide input and policy guidance to MISO management and the Advisory Committee on all market and operational activities and processes that facilitate adequate planning resources within the MISO for the long-term planning horizon,” according to the subcommittee’s draft charter.

RASC meetings will be held on an as-needed basis and be open to all stakeholders. Bill SeDoris, director of MISO integration for Northern Indiana Public Service Co., said once the RASC has leadership, the charter and management plan will be “fine-tuned” to further refine RASC responsibilities, with a final plan and charter brought before the Advisory Committee on Feb. 24. The RASC will oversee MISO’s Loss of Load Expectation Working Group.

“This is just us getting the process moving,” said Steering Committee Chair Tia Elliott. “It’s a good place to start.”

SeDoris said some resource adequacy responsibilities outlined in the Market Subcommittee’s charter and management plan might have to be separated out for the RASC so the two subcommittees don’t replicate tasks. Despite the concern, Steering Committee members approved the MSC’s charter and management plan. Elliott said they could be revised later if necessary. The topic will be discussed at February’s Steering Committee meeting.

— Amanda Durish Cook