CARMEL, Ind. — MISO is moving ahead with developing an automatic generation control (AGC) program designed to rapidly deploy 400 MW of fast-ramping resources by regulating either up or down in response to fluctuations in load.

Speaking during a Dec. 14 Market Subcommittee meeting, Pavan Addepalle of MISO’s market engineering group said the RTO is moving from a conceptual design phase to detailed design with a vendor. MISO hopes to implement AGC by late 2019.

Addepalle said MISO will add new real-time market hourly offer parameters to accommodate the faster units but use the RTO’s existing market and settlement rules to clear regulation. Resources must have a minimum 80-MW/minute ramp rate and a regulation limit of 1 MW or more to be eligible to participate in the program.

In response to a question from Northern Indiana Public Service Co.’s Bill SeDoris, MISO staff said resources under AGC will be cleared in the same market as other resources, but that fast- and slow-responding resources will be divided into pools waiting on separate dispatch signals.

“We’re going to have a single energy market but realize that resources have different parameters and constraints … and design a market that is capable of using separate resources differently,” said MISO Executive Director of Market Design Jeff Bladen, adding that the RTO will not follow in PJM’s footsteps in creating a separate regulation market.

ITC Holdings’ Ray Kershaw said the new designation, while amenable for pumped energy storage, is not an ideal use for batteries.

Addepalle said MISO did not approach the proposal with a specific type of generation in mind.

— Amanda Durish Cook