CARMEL, Ind. — MISO will conduct three new separate, but related, studies this year that could identify a transmission solution for the RTO’s constrained interface between its North and South regions.

The efforts include a market congestion planning study, which is part of MISO’s 2017 Transmission Expansion Plan (MTEP 17), as well as a footprint diversity study and regional transmission overlay study.

Any of the reports could produce a replacement for, or supplement to, the seven-year transmission use settlement between MISO and SPP that limits flows between MISO North and South.

While the trio of studies share modeling and assumptions, each has a different scope, Arash Ghodsian, MISO manager of economic studies, said at a Jan. 18 Planning Advisory Committee meeting. He added that he didn’t know which study might produce a feasible project.

MISO’s Eric Thoms said the congestion and footprint studies would identify project candidates in the third quarter. However, the lengthier regional transmission overlay study, which is expected to determine long-term transmission needs at the end of this year, will not identify prospective projects until the study is concluded in 2019.

The footprint study is the only effort specifically designed to “identify potential mitigation plans to increase the interface capability” between MISO North and South, Ghodsian said. That study will be completed at the end of this year in concert with the MTEP 17 market congestion planning study, which will focus on MISO South.

Project candidates emerging from the congestion planning study will be selected at the September PAC meeting, Ghodsian said. “If we have a good enough solution for transmission needs, we’ll stand by it,” regardless of what study produces it, he said.

None of the studies would result in a revised settlement with another RTO, he noted.

MTEP 19 Will Probe Demand Response, Efficiency Programs

MISO is already putting together pieces for MTEP 19 in the form of a demand response and energy efficiency study.

The RTO said the third-party study is a “refresh” of a similar 2014-15 report and will provide a 20-year forecast for DR, energy efficiency and distributed generation and “their associated costs to install in MISO and the Eastern Interconnection.” Work on the study should run through December, and the RTO said it will conduct quarterly stakeholder workshops related to the subject, with the first scheduled for Feb. 24.

Applied Energy Group, the consulting firm responsible for the 2014-15 study, has been retained to perform the analysis.

Rao Konidena, MISO adviser of energy efficiency, said the RTO recognizes that energy efficiency and DR programs are administered by states and will respect state jurisdiction by simply collecting data on savings from programs while refraining from analyzing any specific program.

MISO has admitted that there is a “gap” the DR and energy efficiency data it requires of load-serving entities and what gets reported, leading to a modeling disadvantage.

MISO to Strike TSR Redispatch Option from Tariff

MISO will file with FERC to remove transmission service request (TSR) redispatch study options from its Tariff, citing market-based dispatch as the more efficient option.

A TSR reserves transmission capacity in the market and the redispatch option is added if a transmission customer has also purchased redispatch service. The transmission provider attempts to relieve system constraints by redispatching its resources, and the option requires MISO to identify which nearby generators — even ones external to MISO — can be redispatched to mitigate transmission constraints.

According to MISO’s Tariff, a TSR with a redispatch option is not eligible for financial transmission rights or auction revenue rights, unlike regular TSRs, making the option unappealing.

Paul Muncy, of MISO’s transmission access planning division, said market-based dispatch would take the place of TSR redispatches. Although TSR dispatches are still offered, MISO currently has no confirmed TSRs that use a redispatch option, and the study option should have been eliminated long ago, he added.

According to MISO, the current TSR redispatch option is burdensome, requiring customers to sign a contractual financial agreement with generation owners in order to use a subset of units and agree on an operating procedures guide between generation owners, impacted transmission operators and MISO.

The RTO said that when it dispatches around congestion, implementing the TSR-related operating guides “would take away from normal market-driven dispatch implementation and reduce market transparency, adding burden to [the] market system and settlement system.”

“It’s not only cumbersome, but it detracts from market efficiency,” Muncy said.

Some stakeholders have wondered if there is any harm in just retaining the language in the Tariff, but MISO compliance staff responded that keeping dead language in the Tariff is not a zero-cost option because the RTO must work to update the procedures in place behind the language.

Improvements Sought for Competitive Transmission Process

MISO will convene a Competitive Transmission Task Team to improve its competitive transmission selection process, aiming to complete a FERC filing on the matter sometime after October.

Brian Pedersen, MISO senior manager of competitive transmission administration, asked for stakeholder feedback on every aspect of the competitive process — from qualification to MISO’s communication — to begin the effort.

“We want to pop our heads up and ask how well we’ve done,” he said.

Stakeholders should also think about how to streamline the process in cases where MISO is dealing with multiple competitive transmission projects at the same time, Pedersen said.

“This is definitely a substantial undertaking,” he said. “We need to think about how to stagger that, scale it.”

MISO also reflected on the breadth of proposed projects stemming from its first request for proposals. The RTO said the process resulted in a “variety of innovative and novel cost caps, concessions and commitments … taking advantage of the freedom to develop new ways to compete on cost” and the annual transmission revenue requirement within the developer selection process.

Pedersen said an “extraordinary amount” of resources and innovation went into project proposals.

“It definitely was an instruction in innovative thinking and competitive spirit,” Pedersen said.

The RTO is moving ahead on voluntary meetings with developers that were not chosen.

MISO has also opened its 2017 prequalification window for organizations seeking to become a qualified transmission developer.  Interested parties must be a MISO member and submit a transmission developer application — along with a $20,000 application fee — before Feb. 6.

In December, LS Power subsidiary Republic Transmission was awarded the Duff-Coleman 345-kV transmission project, the RTO’s first competitive project under FERC Order 1000. The company will construct two substations and a 28.5-mile line in Southern Indiana and Western Kentucky. Republic will deliver quarterly updates to MISO throughout 2017 on the progress of the $49.8 million project. (See LS Power Unit Wins MISO’s First Competitive Project.)

Minimum Design Requirements Task Team Retired

MISO has retired the Minimum Design Requirements Task Team upon conclusion of the group’s work, PAC Chair Cynthia Crane said.

A first version of Business Practices Manual 029, which governs minimum design requirements for competitive projects, was implemented last January. A second version of the manual, detailing a set of ratings that transmission projects will be required to meet, is slated to be released this spring.

Crane said future improvements to BPM 029 will be funneled through the upcoming Competitive Transmission Task Team.

— Amanda Durish Cook