Representatives of the Organization of MISO States advised MISO it needs a central data sharing platform for the participation of DER aggregators in its wholesale market, warning the existing piecemeal, Excel spreadsheet exchanges won’t cut it in a post-Order 2222 era.
During a Jan. 9 teleconference of the DER Task Force, OMS Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs Brad Pope said “the clock is ticking” on transmission to distribution coordination needs and said MISO requires a “centralized and standardized” framework to share DER data as aggregators enter the wholesale market in a matter of months.
Pope said OMS conducted interviews with organizations involved in integration of DER aggregation into wholesale markets and said respondents called out the need for a central communication platform.
“Several noted a piecemeal approach to coordination is highly inefficient, costly and administratively burdensome,” Pope said, stressing the need for something “instead of exchanging Excel files in a manual process that’s ripe for error.”
Erik Hanser, the Michigan Public Service Commission’s energy markets manager, said respondents recommended MISO and state regulatory leadership take the lead on devising an “automated, standardized and scalable” data-sharing platform.
“Sharing Excel spreadsheets is not a sustainable method going forward,” he said, calling for “new communication structures and coordination that doesn’t exist today.”
OMS for months has underscored the need for it and MISO to take the lead on creating an information sharing platform for DERs as part of the RTO’s compliance with Order 2222. In board meetings, some OMS members have said MISO’s lack of a standardized system for coordinated data sharing is a glaring omission.
MISO has proposed using a two-phase approach to Order 2222 compliance, first using an existing demand response category in 2026 to get aggregations participating on a limited basis. It still plans for full market participation of aggregations of distributed resources on its original 2030 timeline that FERC deemed too long a wait in 2023. (See MISO Offers 2-stage Plan for DER Aggregations in Markets.)
MISO has said its settlements system needs extensive work to accommodate full Order 2222 compliance.
The grid operator plans to begin registering DER aggregations under its demand response resource participation model on Sept. 1, 2026, with participation beginning June 1, 2027.
FERC appears to be poised to act on MISO’s pending plan soon, with MISO’s proposal on the docket at the Commission’s Jan. 16 meeting (ER22-1640).
MISO plans to host an Order 2222 Coordination Conference on Feb. 18, where it and OMS plan to discuss roles and responsibilities of the entities involved in DER aggregation in wholesale markets and review the complete process.
MISO’s Kim Sperry said an Order 2222 launch means MISO, transmission owners, distribution companies and aggregators will be “crossing the boundaries between transmission and distribution.”
DER Task Force Prolonged
Meanwhile, stakeholders have decided to prolong the life of the MISO DER Task Force, voting to extend its sunset date from July 31, 2025, to July 31, 2026.
Some stakeholders said the task force will be a helpful outlet as MISO begins accepting DER aggregations in its markets under Order 2222. DTE Energy’s Konstantin Korolyov said the task force’s preservation should be useful in navigating how MISO will fund the system studies it will have to conduct to accommodate DER aggregators.
MISO counsel Michael Kessler said that had stakeholders disbanded the task force, they would have had to decide how to divvy up lingering Order 2222 compliance issues among other stakeholder committees.
