The annual resource adequacy survey conducted by MISO and the Organization of MISO States will become more frequent as the RTO moves to seasonal capacity auctions.  

“One thing you couldn’t help but notice is MISO is moving to a seasonal construct,” MISO adviser Stuart Hansen joked during a Resource Adequacy Subcommittee (RASC) meeting Wednesday. “The question has been, will the OMS-MISO survey follow suit? … The short answer is ‘yes.’”

Hansen said staff has begun conversations with OMS staff and regulators and is “hashing out details internally.” He said the organizations will update stakeholders at future RASC meetings and have a new process in place by the third quarter. The changes will affect 2023-24 planning year readiness.

Hansen said the RTO is strengthening its data import capabilities so market participants aren’t overwhelmed with requests for four times the amount of usual information. He said staff envisions market participants responding to the survey once per year for all seasons.

However, MISO’s plans for seasonal capacity auctions are in doubt following FERC deficiency letters on the grid operator’s minimum capacity obligation proposal and its bid for a four-season capacity market using a resource’s past availability for accreditation. (See related story, Deficiency Notices for MISO’s Seasonal Capacity Auctions Bid.)

MISO plans to post what could be its final annual auction results on April 14. The grid operator has 177 GW of installed capacity, 136 GW in members’ confirmed unforced capacity, a 122-GW coincident peak forecast and a 135-GW planning reserve margin requirement.

Eric Thoms, the RTO’s senior manager of resource adequacy operations, said that confirmed unforced capacity values could still rise as members verify capacity amounts with MISO.

Stakeholders are pushing staff to reinstate a brief stakeholder teleconference to discuss auction results. MISO has historically hosted a call to review auction results the day after releasing them, but it has decided to replace this year’s discussion with a presentation during the April 20 RASC meeting.

Stakeholders said the day-after call is useful, particularly when zones clear at unusually high prices or capacity export limits bind.

“A typical, run-of-the-mill auction probably doesn’t need a workshop, but interesting results require one,” WEC Energy Group’s Chris Plante said.

MISO staff said they would reassess the need to schedule a call.