MISO will not move forward with an economic project in MISO South this year, based on results from the RTO’s market congestion planning study.

In June, MISO reported that it was focusing on just one area of concern in MISO South in the annual study: the congested 115-kV Natchez area on the southern Mississippi-Louisiana border. However, the RTO said last week that none of the five economic project candidates meant to alleviate the congestion could yield enough benefits to be viable. (See “5 Focus Areas in Market Congestion Planning Study,” MISO Planning Advisory Committee Briefs: June 13, 2018.)

“We are not going to be going to the board for any economic projects in the South region,” MISO’s Jordan Cole said during an Aug. 23 MISO South Subregional Planning Meeting.

According to the RTO, a pending reliability project in the 2018 Transmission Expansion Plan will reduce congestion in the Natchez area. Cole said the $22 million, 115-kV line rebuild from Red Gum, La., to Natchez, Miss., will provide enough relief to defer a major project. The project is expected to be in place by early 2021.

“There’s still some residual congestion, but not enough to lead to an … economic project,” Cole said.

Meanwhile, the RTO’s study for MISO Midwest has identified three projects passing the 1.25:1 benefit-cost threshold so far, although the analysis is not complete. MISO in June said it was focusing on four project candidates in four separate locations in MISO Midwest.

Last year’s MISO’s market congestion planning study, which focused exclusively on MISO South, produced the RTO’s second competitively bid project under Order 1000: the 500-kV Hartburg-Sabine junction project. (See “MISO Reviewing Hartburg-Sabine Proposals,” MISO Informational Forum Briefs: July 24, 2018.)

— Amanda Durish Cook