MISO and PJM announced they will embark on a new joint transmission study in the latter half of this year that concentrates on upping their interregional transfer capability.
The RTOs said they will be on the hunt for “opportunities for near-term transmission enhancements along the seam.” The study would have MISO and PJM conducting joint transmission analysis and coordinated modeling.
The grid operators said increasing transfer capability between them could help overcome extreme weather and challenges posed by growing shares of intermittent resources in their fleets.
MISO and PJM said their announcement is driven by a chorus of calls for better interregional planning from the Organization of PJM States (OPSI), the Organization of MISO States (OMS) and the Midwestern Governors Association (MGA). OMS and OPSI sent a joint letter to the RTOs in February calling for more in-depth joint planning. Multiple environmental and consumer advocacy groups also penned their own joint letters asking MISO and PJM to undertake more comprehensive cross-border planning. (See MISO, PJM Stakeholders Call for Interregional Transmission Overhaul.)
MISO and PJM’s announcement comes as FERC seems close to setting minimum levels of interregional transfer capacity and after the introduction of the BIG WIRES Act in Congress, which also calls for establishing minimum transfer requirements.
PJM Vice President of Planning Paul McGlynn said PJM looks forward to more planning coordination with MISO.
“Ensuring a reliable energy transition requires greater interdependence among regions and careful planning. Advancing this enhanced effort will benefit electricity consumers in each region,” McGlynn said in a May 9 press release.
MISO Vice President of System Planning Aubrey Johnson said MISO and PJM have a long history of working together.
“[W]e understand the need to explore interregional planning, and with encouragement from OPSI, OMS and MGA, we will conduct a study that will address both near-term needs and create a model for future studies,” he said.
The newest MISO-PJM study effort is considered separate from their usual interregional planning processes, which include coordinated system plans that can result in larger interregional market efficiency projects or the smaller, quicker targeted market efficiency project (TMEP) portfolios. It’s not clear yet what projects will result, or if MISO and PJM will create a new class of interregional projects following the study.
“Similar to MISO and SPP’s [Joint Targeted Interconnection Queue studies] as a new venture in interregional planning, this study between PJM and MISO is also a new venture to enhance interregional planning,” MISO and PJM said in a statement to RTO Insider.
MISO and PJM said they believe the study “will provide a pathway to increase transfers between the two systems through near-term enhancements, working in collaboration with states and members.”
Historically, the two approved one interregional market efficiency project in 2020 and have approved four sets of the smaller TMEPs aimed at relieving congestion since 2017. They haven’t completed an interregional transmission planning study since 2022.
MISO and PJM’s plans to coordinate their models for this study does not mean they will work from a joint model. The RTOs said their respective subject matter experts will work together “very closely” to line up assumptions to identify transfer needs and fixes that could expand flows between footprints. They said the new study could provide some “future opportunities” for seams modeling improvements.
