By Amanda Durish Cook

CARMEL, Ind. — Manitoba Hydro will reimburse MISO for providing extra contingency reserves during May, when maintenance outages are expected to reduce transfer capability between the Canadian utility and the RTO.

The MISO/Manitoba Hydro Contingency Reserve Sharing Group has a 2,000-MW contingency reserve requirement, with MISO ordinarily supplying 1,850 MW and Manitoba Hydro responsible for 150 MW.

Although Manitoba Hydro expects bountiful water supplies for May, maintenance outages will reduce the transfer limit between it and MISO below normal minimum cleared energy levels for the month, officials told the April 6 Reliability Subcommittee (RSC) meeting.

Following discussions between MISO staff and the Manitoba Hydro Electric Board, the RTO agreed to clear the utility’s share of contingency reserves, resulting in an additional 60 MW of spinning reserves and 90 MW of supplemental reserves.

“Much of the [maintenance] work is on the U.S. side of the border, but the MISO-Manitoba transfer capability will be reduced … during the work,” said Steve Swan, MISO senior manager of dispatch and scheduling.

Swan said Manitoba Hydro will still have reserves but might not be able to supply them because of the outages. “I think rather than saying they have reserves, they’ll have water,” Swan said.

A Manitoba Hydro representative confirmed the utility will have sufficient water to supply reserves but could encounter difficulties delivering them because of insufficient transmission capacity.

The utility has agreed to reimburse the MISO loads charged for contingency reserves through a miscellaneous charge in settlements for the entire month because transfer capability will be difficult to forecast.

“We will be carrying them for the entire period, and they will be reimbursing us for the entire period,” Swan said. “This was the best solution we could come up with.”

Manitoba Hydro will post updated limits during maintenance to MISO’s OASIS site. Swan said changes to the RTO’s clearing requirement will begin April 31.

Stakeholders at the RSC meeting did not appear to have a problem with MISO’s plan.

“That’s what I think the market is for,” RSC Chair Tony Jankowski joked.

At this year’s Gulf Coast Power Association MISO South Regional Conference, MISO CEO John Bear said he wished the RTO boasted more hydro power in the footprint and that one of its biggest contingencies is the transmission line connecting it to Manitoba Hydro.

Manitoba’s hydro exports to MISO are expected to increase in 2020 when the 500-kV line Great Northern Transmission Line between the province and Minnesota is scheduled to go into service. (See Manitoba-Minnesota Tx Line Granted Rate Incentives.)

Belt-Tightening

Manitoba Hydro, which underwent a management restructuring in February, last week began offering voluntary buyouts in an effort to cut 15% of its workforce and save about $60 million, CBC reported. The utility’s debts — $13 billion debt as of late 2015 — could increase to $25 billion over the next three years, according to CBC.