A MISO study on renewables integration has found the grid operator can reliably operate its system with a fuel mix heavy on wind and solar energy, but only if its members engage in dramatic transmission expansion.
The 216-page report concluded that reliable system operations “beyond the 30% system-wide renewable level is not insurmountable and will require transformational change in planning, markets, and operations.” It said a market redefinition and grid expansion is imminent to accommodate an “unprecedented pace of change.”
Speaking Wednesday during a Feb. 10 Planning Advisory Committee teleconference, MISO Manager of Policy Studies Jordan Bakke said the four-year Renewable Integration Impact Assessment (RIIA) showed that transmission — not energy storage — remains most effective at delivering power when renewable energy accounts for a majority share of the resource mix. (See MISO: Tx Beats Storage in Integrating Renewables.)
However, MISO is optimistic it “can achieve renewable penetration of at least 50% with transformational change and coordinated action amongst all participants.”
The RTO hovered around a 12-13% renewable penetration in 2020.
The study predicts a steeper, shorter and later-in-the-evening loss-of-load risk as wind and solar resources meet more of the footprint’s demands. (See MISO Renewable Study Predicts Later Peak, Narrower LOLE Risk.) MISO also expects to be more dependent on the system’s remaining conventional generators and warns of shortage risks when the resources take unexpected outages.
Bakke said that, taken as a whole, the study underpins MISO’s need for more transmission planning, , new market tools “to incentivize availability of grid services,” innovative transmission technologies and fresh resource adequacy mechanisms and unit-commitment tools.
“MISO, our members, and the entire industry are poised on the precipice of great change as we are being asked to rapidly integrate far more renewable resources,” MISO President Clair Moeller wrote in a summary. “Given our regional reliability imperative, MISO must act quickly, deliberately, and collaboratively to ensure that the planning, markets, operations, and systems keep pace with these changes. We can achieve this great change if we work together.”
The RTO will host a March 3 workshop to review with stakeholders the study’s conclusions in more detail.
