CARMEL, Ind. — MISO says it will wait until the end of the year to determine how it measures and encourages the six generating attributes it says are necessary to its system operations.
The system reliability attributes include availability, delivering long-duration energy at a high output, rapid start up times, providing voltage stability, ramp-up capability and fuel assurance. (See MISO Considers Resource Attributes as Thermal Output Falls.)
During a Wednesday Resource Adequacy Subcommittee meeting, MISO Director of Policy Studies Jordan Bakke said staff need to tap the RTO’s resources to strengthen system health as the resource transition exposes reliability hazards. He added that there’s no one “perfect resource” or small group of resources that can furnish a flawless balance of reliability, flexibility and affordability.
Bakke said earlier this year that MISO’s attribute discussions could prompt “fundamental changes” in how it operates the markets and ensures reliability. He said staff think it will take several years to roll out solutions in the most “equitable” way they can.
Bakke said MISO believes that the six attributes will become increasingly scarce in coming years. He said their rate of disappearance will help determine whether “new and adaptive market products, new participation requirements or just plain more visibility” are needed.
Renewable resources may account for as much as 40% of the fuel mix in the 2027-28 timeframe, he said, “relatively sooner than we thought where we were going to be five years ago.”
Minnesota Public Utilities Commission staffer Hwikwon Ham said decisions on cultivating the attributes need to happen urgently given that Missouri River Energy Services and MidAmerican Energy announced this week they’re scrapping a planned pumped hydro storage project in central South Dakota over financial concerns. The Gregory County Pumped Storage Project would have stored output from MidAmerican’s wind fleet. MidAmerican Energy and MRES said they will “continue to evaluate all options,” including pumped storage.
Independent Market Monitor David Patton has called MISO’s attempt to single out and quantify necessary system attributes “somewhat misguided,” saying that recognizing attributes as discrete is problematic. He said the grid operator should instead pursue an accreditation method that values a generator’s usefulness to the grid.
“I don’t think you can model these things. Nobody can,” Patton said during a Resource Adequacy Subcommittee meeting in April.
Bakke said that while an accreditation more representative of generation output is necessary, there is still much to be done in ensuring resource adequacy.
