THE WOODLANDS, Texas — MISO told its Board of Directors it’s essential to draft an interconnection queue express lane for generators that resolves resource adequacy risks and has stamps of approval from regulators.  

At a Dec. 10 System Planning Committee, MISO’s Scott Wright told directors that though MISO runs a “good” queue process, it’s “not enough to get us where we’re going.” He said MISO needs to debut a priority study lane for critical generation projects. (See MISO Outlines Plan on Fast-track Queue for Resource Adequacy.) 

Because of capacity sufficiency needs, Wright said MISO can’t afford to wait for the three to four years projects spend in the normal queue, with construction times added to that.   

“This is to fill a gap that’s very real to address until we can get the queue down to a one-year process. This is temporary. This is not an ongoing way of doing business,” he said.  

MISO’s queue clocks in at 312 GW across more than 1,700 projects.  

“What we have is a massive volume deluge, and it’s resulted in large backlogs,” Wright said. “But we need resources now.” 

To meet its upcoming resource adequacy needs, MISO estimates members need to bring at least 17 GW of nameplate capacity online annually, or about 7 GW to 8 GW of accredited capacity. According to MISO records, the footprint brought about 3.4 GW in accredited capacity online in 2024.  

Clean energy groups argue that a dedicated express lane could create equity concerns for projects in the regular queue. They’ve said one-off, accelerated studies for individual projects could result in the RA projects paying far less in network upgrades than their counterpart projects in the regular queue, where major network upgrade costs are spread across groups of projects in study clusters. 

The Sustainable FERC Project has asked MISO to consider making the expedited process a one-time occurrence with a single round of project applications to address states’ near-term resource adequacy risks.  

Clean Grid Alliance’s David Sapper said MISO should rethink filing for the RA fast lane in a “few hurried months.” He told MISO board members at their Dec. 12 meeting that the new process would amount to an “assault on fundamental transmission open-access policies.” 

Sapper said MISO’s specialized study process would create “undue competitive advantage for projects that are allowed to skip the queue and use up existing transmission capabilities while queued projects are held back, thereby degrading their economics.”  

“As a table mate at dinner last night noted — to nobody’s surprise — once investors know there is a way to skip the queue, they won’t want that to go away,” he said.  

MISO staff say if some of the unfinished, delayed resources with signed generator interconnection would come online, MISO would worry less about creating an exclusive avenue in its queue.  

The RTO has amassed 57 GW (or approximately 27 GW in accredited capacity) in planned resources that have made it through the queue, have signed interconnection agreements but remain half-finished due to supply chain hurdles or other holdups.  

Wright also said the sheer volume of projects is “eating away at the effectiveness” of the queue process enough that MISO needs to apply its proposed annual megawatt queue cap on the regular queue. That cap plan is pending before FERC.  

“What we’re doing today isn’t working for tomorrow,” MISO’s Aubrey Johnson said at a Dec. 6 special workshop to discuss the expedited process. 

While the grid operator discusses its RA needs, it’s decided to skip a 2024 cycle of its interconnection queue while it attempts to automate and speed up studies. (See MISO to Skip 2024 Queue Cycle While it Automates Study Process with Tech Startup.)

MISO also appears to be getting at least some of its wish for postponements of generation retirements, which leadership has suggested as a temporary means of maintaining resource adequacy.  

Alliant Energy announced earlier in December that its coal-fired Columbia Energy Center will operate through 2029 while it and co-owners Madison Gas and Electric and Wisconsin Public Service explore converting one of the units to natural gas to bolster reliability. The coal plant was set to close at the end of 2024, which later was pushed back to 2026.  

Missouri utilities say they plan to build new capacity after last year’s Zone 5 shortfall in the capacity auction, where utilities were exposed to cost of new entry capacity prices at $719.81/MW-day for fall 2024 and spring 2025. Some indicated they would take advantage of MISO’s proposed, fast-track queue process for necessary generation projects.  

Others in the MISO footprint protest the natural gas plant plans that are cropping up as the cure for apprehension over resource adequacy.  

Earlier in December, the Sierra Club and Clean Wisconsin petitioned the Wisconsin Supreme Court to hear their case challenging Wisconsin regulators’ approval of certificate of public necessity for the 625-MW Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC). They argue that the Wisconsin Public Service Commission didn’t adequately weigh the environmental impacts of the plant when they approved it. (See City Council Vote Stalls Planned Wisconsin Gas-fired Plant.)