EAGAN, Minn. — MISO reaffirmed its commitment to its second, approximately $25 billion long-range transmission plan (LRTP) portfolio while stakeholders asked MISO to be mindful of river crossings and whether it may reassign developers for the first LRTP portfolio’s projects in Iowa.   

“We’ve got the landing gear down,” Vice President of System Planning Aubrey Johnson told MISO board members of the near-final second LRTP portfolio during a June 26 System Planning Committee meeting, part of MISO’s quarterly Board Week.  

Last week, MISO announced it would take some stakeholders’ project suggestions and add seven more lines to its second LRTP, bringing the portfolio to between $23 billion and $27 billion. That’s up from an original estimate of $17 billion to $23 billion. (See MISO’s 2nd Long-range Tx Portfolio Jumps to About $25B.)  

Great River Energy’s Matt Ellis said the larger portfolio “is a significant but still very necessary step forward” in MISO transmission planning.   

Johnson said he believes MISO’s current LRTP work, coupled with its annual Transmission Expansion Plans, “puts us in a position to be generally compliant with FERC Order 1920.” He said MISO nevertheless will conduct a gap analysis to unpack the 1,300-page rule and determine how it might need to alter its current planning processes to be in full compliance.

MISO Director Todd Raba said MISO deserves congratulations for having a strong-enough planning process that FERC used it as example.  

“I’ve been a firm proponent that we stay in front of the line,” Raba said during the June 27 board meeting.  

FERC Commissioner Allison Clements has said the commission modeled some of the comprehensive transmission planning rule on the planning MISO already conducts. (See MARC 2024 Displays Mixed Feelings on Transition Feasibility.)  

Johnson said MISO is further preparing for intensive system planning by transitioning its modeling to Energy Exemplar’s more sophisticated PLEXOS tool. He said MISO’s current capacity expansion modeling tool — the Electric Power Research Institute’s Electric Generation Expansion Analysis System (EGEAS) — is “at the very limits” of the variables it can simulate as the system becomes more complex.  

“That was in use when I was in college,” MISO Director Trip Doggett joked of EGEAS.  

Board members asked MISO when they can expect to see HVDC lines in LRTP portfolios.  

Johnson said MISO remains open to planning HVDC lines, but the second portfolio wasn’t an appropriate jumping-off point.

“We’re able to move to a 765-kV dominant voltage because of our work on the 345-kV system,” he said, implying that each portfolio builds on previous planning.  

Johnson also said MISO would be best served by HVDC lines that are at least 300 to 400 miles long. The second portfolio’s longest lines don’t exceed 300 miles, he said.  

Board members also expressed interest in the extent MISO uses artificial intelligence to chart new transmission.  

“I have a confession to make: I had really pushed against AI technology,” Johnson said, adding that he prefers to focus on making the system resource adequate first.  

However, Johnson said his thinking has changed of late and said MISO can use “tip of the iceberg” artificial intelligence now. For instance, he said MISO can feed an AI application with all past interconnection queue study results to create a search engine database and answer interconnection customers’ questions without sacrificing more staff attention.  

LRTP Mississippi Crossing Raises Specter of Cardinal-Hickory Creek

Xcel Energy’s Carolyn Wetterlin said she was apprehensive over the second LRTP portfolio calling for a line crossing the Mississippi River from Wisconsin’s Driftless Area into Minnesota. She said the line was reminiscent of the beleaguered 345-kV Cardinal-Hickory Creek’s controversial river crossing in the same region.  

Cardinal-Hickory Creek’s final mile to intersect Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge remains tied up in litigation. The line was approved in 2011 as part of MISO’s MultI-Value Project portfolio. (See Cardinal-Hickory Creek Developers Appeal Injunction on Line’s Final Mile.)  

Clean Grid Alliance’s Beth Soholt said she similarly was “deeply concerned” about a new 765-kV line’s chances of crossing the river. She urged MISO to reflect on its route assumptions before it finalizes the portfolio.   

But ITC’s Jeff Eddy said Cardinal-Hickory Creek developers ITC and Dairyland Power Cooperative are “doing the hard work” to blaze a trail for future transmission development in the area.  

LS Power Senior Vice President of Transmission Policy Sharon Segner said the portfolio of 765-kV greenfield projects will be “tough by any standard” to get built. 

Variance Analyses for Iowa LRTP Projects

Finally, MISO announced it has embarked on variance analyses for the first LRTP projects located in Iowa due to uncertainties over who will develop the projects. MISO Deputy General Counsel Kristina Tridico said MISO doesn’t yet have a timeline to offer on the studies. 

Already-approved LRTP projects in Iowa have been in limbo since last year, when an Iowa court struck down the state’s right of first refusal (ROFR) law and halted regulatory permitting for LRTP lines that incumbent developers ITC Midwest, MidAmerican Energy and Cedar Falls Utilities elected to build under the ROFR law. (See MISO Asks Court for Injunction Reversal on Iowa LRTP Projects.)  

During the June 25 System Planning Committee meeting, Segner stressed the importance of conducting variance analyses on the Iowa LRTP projects. She noted that Iowa’s legislative session wrapped for the year with new ROFR legislation failing to gain traction (HF 2551). Segner said the inaction on a new ROFR law makes for “an appropriate time” for MISO to re-evaluate the project and assign new developers, if necessary.  

MISO performs variance analyses on transmission projects when they encounter schedule overruns, significant design changes or a 25% cost increase from original estimates. After completing the analysis, MISO can let projects stand, cancel them or assign them to different developers.  

Alliant Energy’s Mitch Myhre asked that the board remain focused on how the first LRTP portfolio’s lines are faring in state regulator processes. He said though the more expensive second LRTP is drawing the most attention now, it’s MISO’s obligation to encourage and assist regulators and developers as the first, $10 billion batch of 345-kV lines progresses. 

“There’s a role for the board to continue to monitor and assess … timelines and barriers,” Myhre said.  

MISO Director Nancy Lange agreed with the MISO community that the first LRTP portfolio is not in the rearview mirror.