By Amanda Durish Cook

MISO staff are recommending that two joint MISO-SPP committees not develop a coordinated system plan study this year, advising the groups to instead focus on improving their processes.

“MISO is hoping to focus on improving the process for coordinated studies prior to embarking on our next study,” MISO spokesperson Andy Schonert said following last week’s Planning Advisory Committee meeting. He said MISO wants to “take a step back” before proceeding.

MISO said it would review stakeholder input on the recommendation before putting the issue to a final vote.

SPP’s Seams Steering Committee voted earlier this month in favor of producing a coordinated study after discussion with representatives from the RTOs’ Interregional Planning Stakeholder Advisory Committee.

“The overwhelming consensus was that there is sufficient justification to undertake another joint study between the RTOs while concurrently working to implement process improvements,” said David Kelley, SPP’s director of interregional relations.

Schonert said MISO and its stakeholders want another year to align the effort with MISO’s modeling and transmission planning timeline. The RTO also wants any joint study to encompass broader metrics, such as adjusted production costs. He said MISO is committed to learning why proposed projects are not passing interregional reviews and is seeking possible development of a “standalone” interregional process, which would bypass the “triple hurdle” of individual and joint RTO approval procedures.

If just one RTO votes to perform the joint study, the subject is put off until the annual issues review the following year, according to Eric Thoms, MISO manager of planning coordination and strategy.

However, the study will be approved if one RTO votes in favor for three consecutive years — regardless of the position of the second RTO. A first joint study in 2015 failed to recommend any interregional projects, and MISO and SPP met in March for an annual issues review to discuss improving the process. (See MISO, SPP Considering Second Joint Tx Study.)

Thoms said MISO’s current issues with SPP do not warrant a joint study. He pointed out that the new seam along the Integrated System in North Dakota and South Dakota is being monitored, transfer limits between MISO North and MISO South are in place, and congestion has not changed substantially from the 2015 joint study. More historical data is needed before MISO and SPP can identify the persistent levels of market-to-market flowgate congestion, he said.

“This does not mean that we stop monitoring issues or are not open to future studies as we learn more,” said Jesse Moser, MISO manager of infrastructure studies. “Just because we don’t do a study doesn’t mean we stop working with stakeholders on these issues.”

If MISO staff’s recommendation against a study is upheld through a PAC motion, the next opportunity to reconsider would follow the annual issues review in early 2017, Thoms said. If a pressing issue does arise, the two RTOs could scope out a study before the first quarter of 2017, he said.