By Amanda Durish Cook

CARMEL, Ind. — MISO provided members about $2.6 billion in economic benefits during 2015, compared with membership costs of $267 million, according to the RTO’s most recent “value proposition” study.

The benefit figure represents an average of MISO’s estimated $2.1 billion to $3.1 billion in member savings last year, which is in line with the range for 2014. MISO estimates it has generated $14.5 billion in cumulative net benefits for market participants since it began calculating the financial impact of its services in 2007. (See Year 1 Judged a Success for MISO South; Gains Limited by SPP Dispute.)

The study examined RTO services such as improving coordination with neighboring systems and helping members assess the impact of environmental regulations. Benefits are assessed across nine subject areas, which include reliability, market commitment and dispatch, wind integration, compliance efforts and generation investment deferral. MISO excludes hard-to-quantify benefits like seams management and does not calculate individual member savings.

Other highlights of the report:

• The diversity of MISO’s 15-state footprint helped delay generation investments through capacity sharing across zones with different peak seasons, resulting in savings of $1.6 billion. The South region alone saved between $559 million and $753 million.
• Improved unit commitment through five-minute dispatch saved members $147 million, while broader sharing of regulation and spinning reserves — along with the centralization of FERC, NERC and North American Energy Standards Board compliance responsibilities — yielded an additional $208 million.
• Reliability and demand response technology improvements saved an average of $181 million and $112 million, respectively.
• Wind integration efforts in the North and Central regions produced 787 MW of additional wind generation, translating into savings of $347 million. MISO credits its regional planning for resulting in more economical placement of wind resources. MISO also said improvements in generator availability incentives in those regions delayed the need for 1,694 MW of new capacity construction, saving market participants between $213 million and $263 million.

“By centrally managing the transmission system as a large region, MISO is able to deliver reliable service and provide billions in economic value,” MISO CEO John Bear said in a press release.