By Amanda Durish Cook

CARMEL, Ind. — MISO’s 2016 Transmission Expansion Plan, with 383 projects totaling $2.7 billion, won the Board of Directors’ unanimous approval Dec. 7.

The 13th annual transmission package shed 11 projects and $100 million in investment from the preliminary plan that was unveiled in September. (See MTEP 16 Proposes 394 Projects at $2.8 Billion.)

The approved plan calls for less spending on fewer projects than MTEP 15’s $2.75 billion on 345 projects. It brings transmission investment in the footprint to 1,246 projects totaling about $15.6 billion since 2003.

MISO Vice President of System Planning and Seams Coordination Jennifer Curran said some stakeholders wrote a letter encouraging the RTO to open the plan’s lone market efficiency project — the $80.9 million Huntley-Wilmarth 345-kV line in Minnesota — to competitive bidding.

The project, however, is covered by the state’s right-of-first-refusal statute. Curran said MISO counsel conducted another legal review of the Huntley-Wilmarth project and concluded that the RTO must respect state and local laws. “It would be inconsistent with our Tariff, and our Tariff respects that right-of-first-refusal law,” she said.

MISO Director Michael Evans asked if there was anything else the RTO could research about the legality of opening Huntley-Wilmarth to competitive bidding, but Vice President of Transmission and Technology Clair Moeller said, “Based on our Tariff and state law, we’re right where we need to be.”

“MTEP is a remarkable document. Planning from the Gulf of Mexico to the Hudson Bay is a dream … and it’s being done very well,” Evans concluded. “The direction of change remains the same, but the pace of change is up in the air.”

Evolving Fleet Influencing MTEP Futures Regardless of Presidency

Curran said MTEP 17’s futures, which on average predict a one-third coal, one-third gas and one-third renewables mix by 2030, are still relevant, despite the election of Donald Trump, who has vowed to “save” the coal industry. (See related story, Trump Transition Bodes Ill for Clean Power Plan.)

During the Dec. 6 System Planning Committee of the Board of Directors meeting, Curran said she expects three unchanged futures to be finalized in 2017. (See “MTEP 17 Futures Finalized,” MISO Planning Advisory Committee Briefs.)

“This is a more interesting topic since the election,” Curran said. “We’ve gotten a lot of calls since the election asking what has changed. In our view, we see our generation fleet continuing to evolve.”

Curran said the real uncertainty facing MISO is how fast those changes will take place, but she said regardless of federal energy policy and the presidency, fleet evolution will continue.

“We see and hear our members and state’s intentions to move forward with a lower-carbon fleet,” Curran said, citing carbon reduction measures in states’ fixed resource adequacy plans, continued low gas prices and the number of renewables in MISO’s interconnection queue, where wind comprised 69% of total megawatts reaching the queue’s definitive planning phase in 2016.

Curran said in the next 15 years, 8 GW of coal could retire based on the average 65-year coal unit lifespan and 16 GW of natural gas and oil generators could retire assuming their average 55-year lifespan. She said MISO plans to initiate a study in 2017 to examine the reliability impacts of aged-based generation retirements.

Moeller said MISO’s aim is simple: political-free planning.

“The most important criteria is that we’re working on the right thing. I think we’re pointed towards that,” Evans said.