By Amanda Durish Cook

A MISO Board of Directors committee has advanced a $2.7 billion transmission development package that includes 353 new projects — including one divisive line proposed for Texas.

The System Planning Committee of the Board of Directors last week allowed MISO to move ahead in recommending its 2017 Transmission Expansion Plan for full board approval in early December, with RTO staff acknowledging that the plan’s only market efficiency project and competitive bidding candidate has drawn stakeholder ire.

MISO Vice President of System Planning Jennifer Curran said the $129.7 million, 500-kV line and substation in southeastern Texas underwent additional vetting to address concerns about the project’s costs. The RTO hired an additional consultant who verified its estimate, she said.

“As a result, we’re comfortable with the cost estimate for the competitive transmission process,” Curran told the committee during a Nov. 16 conference call.

MISO’s Transmission Owners sector last month submitted an unsuccessful motion asking for a six-month delay of the project — one of the priciest in MTEP 17 — until the RTO addresses late modeling changes and a shifting cost estimate on the project. (See MISO Sectors Mull Texas Project Delay for MTEP 17.)

Xcel Energy had questioned the process behind the cost estimate, while Entergy submitted comments expressing concern about MISO overstating the benefits of the project and questioning modeling assumptions used to determine generator commitments in future system planning models.

“We disagree with the comments and continue to recommend that the project go forward,” Curran said. She added that the RTO would have risked reliability issues if it granted a delay of the project. The project is meant to alleviate constraints in MISO South’s West of the Atchafalaya Basin load pocket area straddling Texas and Louisiana.

Director Todd Raba asked what recourse Xcel and Entergy have available after MISO rebuffed their concerns. Curran said the companies could approach the board with their concerns and can pursue the RTO’s dispute resolution process.

MISO South Getting More Attention

Curran said more than half the projects in MTEP 17 are baseline reliability projects, most of which are concentrated in MISO South.

“Some of it is just the general lumpiness of upgrades … based on when projects need to be undertaken. Some of it is the continued load growth in the South that is not happening in other parts of our footprint,” Curran said.