CARMEL, Ind. — MISO is open to making edits to its process for approving transmission reconfiguration plans that reduce congestion costs to increase the programs’ odds of approval.

MISO has approved two congestion cost reconfigurations of 44 submittals to date, resulting in a 4.5% approval rate. The grid operator said it’s evaluating its market study process for reconfigurations “due to time commitment and low approval rates.”

Multiple stakeholders said the RTO’s low approval rate of reconfiguration proposals is disappointing. They said when load-serving entities submit a reconfiguration plan, it already has a healthy amount of study behind it.

At the Aug. 22 Reliability Subcommittee, Alliant Energy’s Mitch Myhre asked for MISO to conduct a nonpublic sit down with stakeholders to get a better understanding of study input and “why results are coming out the way they are.”

MISO said it may introduce some edits to its transmission reconfiguration study and approval process at a future Reliability Subcommittee.

MISO members have been paying more attention to transmission reconfigurations with congestion costs on the rise. Last year, MISO assembled a nonpublic Reconfiguration for Congestion Cost Task Team, which focuses on transmission owners’ plans to reroute transmission flows during times of heavy congestion costs. The task team maintains a monthly list of the top congested constraints within the footprint that might benefit from a reconfiguration.

Some MISO members have said it’s imperative MISO use reconfiguration plans because major transmission expansion that will ease congestion still is years away from being built.