By Amanda Durish Cook

CARMEL, Ind. — MISO is asking FERC to schedule a technical conference to clarify the rules governing the implementation and use of pseudo-ties.

The RTO made the request in a May 26 filing under two dockets: PJM’s proposal to apply more stringent requirements on external capacity resources (ER17-1138) and MISO’s proposed pro forma pseudo-tie agreement (ER17-1061). FERC sent deficiency notices seeking more information in response to both initiatives.

MISO said a technical conference could “provide a foundational understanding of pseudo-ties, their application, and the challenges they pose” and help FERC “better understand the benefits of pseudo-ties, the potential impacts pseudo-ties have on reliability and efficiency of market operations, and the current status of coordination between neighboring RTOs.”

“We talked about these things for two years now, and there are still questions,” MISO Senior Director of Regional Operations David Zwergel said at a June 1 Reliability Subcommittee meeting.

MISO’s Independent Market Monitor, who wants FERC to eliminate PJM’s requirement that external resources be pseudo-tied, joined in the call for a technical conference. “What we would like the technical conference to make clear is … there are potential alternatives that should be considered to pseudo-ties. What we hope comes out of this conference is a full hearing of the cost and the benefits,” said Michael Wander of IMM Potomac Economics.

The request comes as PJM and MISO are still working on draft joint operating agreement changes to create a standard pseudo-tie definition and rule set. (See MISO, PJM to Try Again on FERC Pseudo-Tie Filings.)

The joint language, which has not been released to stakeholders, will remove the need for MISO to sign off on PJM’s proposed pro forma pseudo-tie agreement. Late last year, MISO staff said there was no need to write standardized pseudo-tie definitions into the RTOs’ JOA; by early spring, the RTOs had agreed to add coordinated pseudo-tie policies to their JOA.

Zwergel said MISO is hoping to file the JOA in the next few months. “Good progress has been made,” he said.

While it awaits FERC’s decision on a technical conference, MISO will respond to the deficiency letter on its pro forma filing by June 12, he said.