By Amanda Durish Cook

ST. PAUL, Minn. — MISO’s 2016 Transmission Expansion Plan recommends 394 projects totaling $2.8 billion.

The preliminary MTEP 16, unveiled at the Sept. 13 System Planning Committee of the Board of Directors, proposes:

• 114 baseline reliability projects valued at $734 million;
• 27 generator interconnection projects at $123 million, nine of which will be cost-shared;
• One transmission delivery service project at $350,000;
• One market efficiency project, the Huntley-Wilmarth 345-kV line project in southern Minnesota projected to cost $81 million; and
• 251 other projects driven by local needs at $1.8 billion.

Vice President of System Planning and Seams Coordination Jennifer Curran said the top 10 priciest projects in MTEP 16 are evenly distributed between MISO North and MISO South. Spending under MTEP 16 includes more projects than MTEP 15’s 334, but total spending would be $6 million less.

The projects are spread across all MISO quarters, with 33% in MISO South, 39% in MISO West (in parts of northwestern Illinois, Montana, South Dakota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and all of North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa), 22% in MISO East (in northern Indiana and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula) and the remaining 6% in MISO Central (in parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky).

The projects are also varied by type, with 44% of projects dedicated to upgrading substation equipment, 28% dedicated to transmission line upgrades, 20% dedicated to the installation of new transmission lines, 5% dedicated to transformer upgrade and replacement and 3% dedicated to voltage control improvements.

Curran said the lone market efficiency project submitted for approval, the Huntley-Wilmarth 345-kV line, will accommodate wind additions in Iowa and Minnesota. Curran said the cost of the project, which was recommended by North/Central Market Congestion Planning Study and has benefit-to-cost ratio of 2, would be spread 20% across the MISO North and Central regions, with the rest allocated to the local zone. MISO South does not yet share in cost allocations for market efficiency projects.

Board member J. Michael Evans asked why the project wasn’t built 20 years ago if it was meant to handle wind power. Curran said the project will be constructed primarily for new wind buildout.

Board Chair Judy Walsh asked if the MTEP would always involve an expensive bundle of transmission upgrades that chases new generation locations. Vice President of Transmission and Technology Clair Moeller said MISO’s multi-value project category seeks to predict the location where transmission is most needed.

Curran said if approved, MTEP 16 may contain a hitch because the $80.9 million Huntley–Wilmarth line project is located wholly inside Minnesota, which has a right-of-first-refusal statute. Curran said that while the project “by definition is eligible for the competitive transmission process,” Order 1000 and MISO’s Tariff respect state and local laws.

MTEP 16 also includes four economic projects resulting from MISO’s South Market Congestion Planning Study:

• An $88 million 230-kV line and substation in southeastern Louisiana with a 1.96 to 3.40 B/C ratio, to be in service by 2022;
• The $1.9 million Minden–Sarepta 115-kV line upgrade in northwestern Louisiana with a 1.83 B/C ratio to be in service by 2020;
• The $7.6 million Trumann–Trumann West 161-kV line project in northeastern Arkansas with a 13.4 B/C ratio to be in service by 2018; and
• The $6.7 million Lakeover 500/230-kV transformer upgrade in southeastern Louisiana with a 1.4 B/C ratio to be in-service by 2020.

Costs for the four projects will be assigned to the local zones that they benefit.

MISO’s Planning Advisory Committee members will vote on the MTEP 2016 report in October. A MISO review of sector feedback will begin in November before the board votes at its December meeting.

“You know, Ernest Hemingway wrote his best novels when he was young, but MTEP keeps getting better. MTEP 16 is better than MTEP 15,” Evans said.