December was marked by all-time high wind output in MISO, along with higher gas prices and erratic weather patterns that challenged the RTO’s forecasters, officials said at a Jan. 24 Informational Forum.
Jeff Bladen, MISO’s executive director of market design, said that while average temperatures in December were “near normal,” the month saw “rapid transitions in temperatures and winds,” leading to inaccurate forecasting and poor unit commitment.
“Ultimately, unit commitment decisions are heavily influenced by weather forecast accuracy,” Bladen said.
There are ongoing efforts to improve load forecasting capabilities, he added. “The challenge is more volatile weather … it’s something we continue to work on to improve our ability to manage and predict,” Bladen said.
Load averaged around 77 GW during December, a 9-GW increase over November. The month’s peak of 100 GW occurred Dec. 19.
MISO’s systemwide energy prices averaged just above $30/MWh, up 22% compared with the previous month. Bladen said the increase could be attributed to an $3.59/MMBtu average natural gas price that was $1.15 higher than in November.
A month-to-month upending of wind output records has become almost standard for MISO, and a new high of 13.7 GW was set Dec.7, surpassing the previous record of 13.3 GW set in late November. Wind production for the month totaled 5,687 GWh, the highest value recorded for the RTO.
MISO Creates Focus Group for IT Refresh
MISO will create a Market System User Experience Focus Group to learn about information technology shortcomings, said Curtis Reister, the RTO’s director of software delivery.
The group will meet Feb. 23 and is open to all users of MISO market systems who would like to comment on their market experiences and make suggestions.
The group, part of MISO’s wider effort to make software improvements in 2017, will gauge customer satisfaction with usability, performance and security and seek to understand customer experiences. (See MISO to Study Aging Software; Market Improvements Planned for 2017.)
The RTO noted that its electronic market systems are more than 10 years old. While some applications have been improved for functionality, there have been “minimal” changes to front-end design.
“There is some dissatisfaction out there, and we want to understand it,” Reister said.
The focus group will also decide which IT investments will have the biggest payback, he added.
MISO CEO John Bear said software investments are needed to manage a larger, more diverse fleet. “We’re dealing with a lot more intermittency and a lot more generators,” he said.
Some of the improvements might require members to make system changes implemented over the long-term in order to give those members adequate time to update, Bear said.
MISO will also switch platforms for its external website, according to Executive Director of External Affairs Kari Bennett.
Stakeholder Input Needed on Cost Allocation
Patrick Brown, manager of transmission planning for MISO South, said the RTO expects stakeholders to submit comments on transmission cost allocation by Feb. 27, in time for a Hot Topic discussion at the March 22 Advisory Committee meeting.
The RTO released a market efficiency project (MEP) cost allocation strawman in December, proposing to lower the current 345-kV voltage threshold and remove a footprint-wide postage stamp allocation of costs in favor of one in which costs are borne solely by participants in benefiting transmission pricing zones. (See MISO Stakeholders Propose Changes to Market Efficiency Cost Allocation Process.)
MISO expects cost allocation refinement to continue into the third quarter before Tariff changes are drafted in the fourth quarter and filed sometime in mid-2018.
— Amanda Durish Cook
