MISO announced it’s pushing back a scheduled meeting to discuss three new substations proposed by Entergy for expedited treatment in the RTO’s annual planning cycle.

The grid operator said it needs the pause to conduct more analysis on the trio of expedited projects to serve new load interconnections near Jackson, Miss., before it can recommend the projects move ahead.

Entergy proposed three new substations for the fast-growing industrial area of Madison County in August. It sought MISO go-ahead to build two new 230-kV substations to serve 267 MW in load apiece and a 500/230-kV substation to cover 537 MW in new load.

Entergy wants to bring the 230-kV substations online by early 2025 and 2026. The utility envisions the 500/230-kV substation to be operational by mid-2027.

But MISO said the “size and complexity” of the new projects means it was forced to postpone its Sept. 22 South Technical Study Task Force meeting, where it was due to discuss study results with stakeholders. MISO studies expedited project requests for adverse impacts on its system.

MISO said its review uncovered transmission issues were the proposed substations to be built. The RTO said its expansion planning team now must work with affected transmission owners to resolve the issues and said it will schedule a new task force meeting once it can complete its review.

MISO has been fielding numerous and more complex out-of-cycle requests for projects that can’t wait to begin construction until the early December approval typically reserved for the MISO Transmission Expansion Plans (MTEPs).

The grid operator has said the surge in expedited project review requests means it needs to modify its expedited study procedures so its planners won’t be overwhelmed. (See MTEP 23 Catapults to $9.4B; MISO Replaces South Reliability Projects.)

MISO also said it expects load growth driven by large industrial and commercial interconnections to continue for the foreseeable future. (See MISO: Expect More Expensive Annual Transmission Packages.)