FERC on Wednesday allowed MISO to edit its tariff to clear up performance rules for load-modifying resources (LMRs).
MISO’s ruleset now more clearly states that LMR performance is evaluated on an individual basis, not on the aggregate performance of a market participant’s entire portfolio (ER21-693). Market participants can operate several LMRs across multiple local balancing authorities.
The tariff revisions, which the commission approved without comment, don’t change existing MISO policy. The new language is considered effective July 1.
The RTO said it discovered a need for the clarification following a maximum generation emergency in early 2019, when an extreme cold snap forced MISO’s first LMR use in its North and Central regions. (See Cold Snap Halts DER Talk as MISO Calls Max Gen Event.)
MISO said while market participants were able to supply 93% of the megawatts it requested to manage the emergency, only 21% of the deployed LMRs met the grid operator’s performance measurement and verification throughout the emergency. MISO penalized and even disqualified some LMRs after the event, leading their owners to seek alternative dispute resolution with staff.
“Ultimately, the information gathered through these disputes highlighted the need for the clarifications to the tariff,” MISO said.
Market participants were confused by the process, the grid operator said, and some were unaware that they needed to update their LMRs’ individual availability in the RTO’s communication system from default summer values to a daily offering.
The revised tariff language states that market participants are responsible for communicating to MISO “when the status or availability of an LMR changes.” When MISO calls up LMRs, scheduling instructions are sent to the owning market participants, not to individual resources.
The RTO also wrote that LMRs that “fail to perform in accordance with its market participant’s response to MISO’s scheduling instructions will be subject to a penalty and will not receive credit for its deployment.”
