MISO said it will work to improve the role of the Planning Advisory Committee in interregional matters following complaints that the committee was hearing after the fact about Interregional Planning Stakeholder Advisory Committees (IPSAC) decisions.

Eric Thoms, MISO manager of planning coordination and strategy, said the PAC’s seven voting sectors should decide the RTO’s IPSAC vote on study approvals or whether potential interregional projects should proceed to regional review. However, Thoms said those votes should continue to be conducted at IPSAC meetings.

The MISO-SPP IPSAC’s nonbinding votes — one vote from each RTO — are taken under advisement by the MISO-SPP Joint RTO Planning Committee, a group of RTO staffers that has ultimate say over what interregional issues the RTOs pursue.

For interregional matters involving PJM, the PAC will continue to provide advice and recommendations to MISO planning staff participating in the MISO-PJM Joint Planning Committee. No votes are conducted in the MISO-PJM IPSAC.

To become more proactive, MISO plans to make presentations to the PAC on issues scheduled at subsequent IPSAC meetings. “We need to do our due diligence to get out in front of PAC with a list of issues that we’re going to present,” Thoms told the committee during an Aug. 17 meeting. “We will give you forewarning in person. We need to come in front of you with these topics beforehand.”

Transmission Owners sector representative Cynthia Crane expressed reservations with the PAC’s vote being conducted in the IPSAC where she said a different set of stakeholders are in attendance. She said fewer sector representatives typically attend IPSAC meetings versus the PAC.

“I think you may end up with a different vote. I have some concerns,” Crane said.

PAC Chair Bob McKee agreed with the voting concern. “It’s tough to have this sort of conversation in front of a different body,” he said.

Sean Brady of Wind on the Wires asked for a timeline on what interregional efforts MISO is undertaking, such as scopes, study and approval processes. Thoms said he would take the comments under advisement.

MISO-SPP Coordinated Study Focusing on 5 Interregional Areas in Dakotas

Thoms also said MISO is proposing to look at five needs in its coordinated study with SPP, focusing on potential project spots along its seam with SPP’s Integrated System in North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa. The study is currently expected to last through April. The final scope discussion is expected at the Sept. 7 joint meeting with SPP.

“Once we identify the needs, we can hit the ground running,” Thoms said.

Adam McKinney of the Missouri Public Service Commission questioned why MISO would embark on this study when it couldn’t approve a single interregional project after the 2015 study. (See “MISO Rethinks Coordinated Study with SPP,” MISO Planning Advisory Committee Briefs.) He likened it to an ill-matched girlfriend and boyfriend getting married. “It’s like if I go on a trip with my girlfriend for three days, and we can’t stand each other, then we decide to get married for five years,” he said.

McKinney also said he didn’t want smaller projects set aside in a quest to identify larger projects only. “I want my smaller problems fixed, and I don’t want them ignored in some big overlay bonanza.”

Thoms said that threshold for conducting regional reviews of projects with SPP is low: a requirement to reduce congestion by 5% or more on either side of the seam.

This newest study will take place as MISO considers making changes to align its study timeline with SPP and scrapping the “triple hurdle” of interregional and separate regional reviews of joint projects. (See MISO, SPP Disagree on 2016 Joint Study.)

Thoms asked for stakeholder feedback on the coordinated study by Aug. 24.

He also told stakeholders that MISO and PJM are working on a cost allocation method for a new project type: targeted market efficiency projects, short-term projects of $20 million or less to relieve congestion. (See MISO, PJM Unveil JOA Process for ‘Targeted’ Market Efficiency Projects.)

Thoms said MISO will report to the PAC once it determines how to split costs within the RTO. “We haven’t quite figured out the cost allocation yet,” Thoms said.

Longer, More Detailed Tx Overlay Study in Works

Citing a changing resource mix, MISO this year has set out a more detailed regional transmission overlay study, which identifies transmission needs and the most efficient solutions.

MISO said the draft scope for the multi-year study will use the three futures developed for MISO’s 2017 Transmission Expansion Plan (MTEP) to “identify regional needs and develop long-term overlay roadmaps.” (See MISO Proposes 3 New MTEP 17 Futures.)

MISO plans to finalize the overlay scope at the Sept. 21 PAC meeting.

The study will result in a list of regional transmission needs by the end of 2017 and identify transmission project candidates in 2018. In 2019, MISO envisions setting up business cases and cost allocations on selected projects.

McKee said the overlay scope resembled the vetting process for the market efficiency project (MEP) and multi-value project (MVP) portfolios.

PAC liaison Jeff Webb said the overlay may fit some of the MEP and MVP criteria as MISO’s changing fleet is driving a more detailed study.

“It’s not something we ought to do every year, but our fleet is changing,” Webb said. “If it looks similar, that’s because it is, but I don’t want to judge it just yet. Let’s see what the analysis shows. … We haven’t done the analysis yet so let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

$104 Million in MISO South Projects Recommended to Board

MISO’s Market Congestion Planning Study has identified five projects totaling about $185 million to recommend to its Board of Directors.

Arash Ghodsian, of MISO’s economic studies department, said four of the five projects being submitted for recommendation are in MISO South. The four are spread across Arkansas, Mississippi, North Louisiana and Southeast Louisiana, and Ghodsian said none of them meet the 345-kV voltage threshold to become an MEP:

• The $7.6 million, 6.5-mile long rebuild of the Trumann–Trumann West 161-kV line in Arkansas comes with a benefit-to-cost ratio of 13.36 and an estimated 2018 in-service date.
• The $6.7 million relocation of the existing 500/230-kV Lakeover transformer near Jackson, Miss., has a 1.43 B/C ratio and is estimated to be in service by 2020.
• Upgrading the Minden–Sarepta 115-kV terminal equipment in northern Louisiana will cost about $1.9 million with a 1.83 B/C ratio and is estimated by 2020.
• The construction of a new 230-kV transmission line and substation south of the existing Ninemile substation in Southeast Louisiana will cost about $88 million and have a B/C ratio ranging from 1.96 to 42 with an in-service date by 2022.

Ghodsian said the projects will be reviewed to see if any should be expedited.

Zheng Zhou, with MISO’s economic studies department, said the RTO also intends to recommend the $81 million Huntley–Wilmarth 345-kV line project from Minnesota to Iowa as an MEP in MISO North. The line, expected to be in service in early 2022, comes with a 2.02 B/C ratio.

Zhou said stakeholders generally supported the Minnesota project.

PAC liaison Jeff Webb said if the projects are approved by the board, they will move into MTEP 16.

MISO asked stakeholders provide opinions on the five projects to the Economic Planning Users Group by Aug. 24.

MISO: MVP Savings Top $10 Billion

MISO says it received $10.5 billion to $35.8 billion in net benefits from in-service MVPs since authorizing them in 2011.

The results are part of MISO’s second annual limited review of MVPs. The RTO said congestion and fuel savings account for 75% of overall MVP benefits.

Davey Lopez, MISO advisor of planning coordination and strategy, said the MVP B/C range is about 2 to 2.7, in line with expectations when the RTO approved the 17 MVP projects in 2011.

— Amanda Durish Cook