CARMEL, Ind. — MISO posted the second draft of the 2016 Transmission Expansion Plan report last week,  complete except for the executive summary and Appendix A2’s cost allocation explanation.

MISO’s Omar Hellalat told the Planning Advisory Committee last week that stakeholder feedback forms, which will be delivered to the Board of Directors, are due Oct. 3. The PAC will vote on approving the report Oct. 19. (See MTEP 16 Proposes 394 Projects at $2.8 Billion.)

“We’re not voting on the projects; we’re voting on the process. Did we follow it?” PAC Chair Bob McKee explained.

Meanwhile, MISO members have until Oct. 12 to respond to the MTEP 17 proposed futures, Senior Transmission Planning Engineer Matt Ellis said.

Ellis said the MTEP 17 forecast mirrors trends that showed up in MTEP 16, although MTEP 17 projects higher natural gas consumption. Ellis also said MISO is forecasting 25 GW of retirements by 2031 in the “existing fleet” scenario, 33 GW of retirements in a “policy regulations” future and 41 GW of retirements in the “accelerated alternative technologies” future.

The RTO is forecasting nameplate capacity additions of 30 GW, 58 GW and 94 GW by 2031, respectively.

The study will consider wind resource additions of 2.4 to 30 GW and solar additions of 1.6 to 14.4 GW. MISO also expects peak demand of 127 GW in 2016, rising to between 131 and 145 GW by 2031.

McKee asked what drove the renewables predictions. Ellis said MISO used information from projects in the interconnection queue and a study from renewable firm Vibrant Clean Energy that was commissioned by the RTO. (See “MTEP 17 Futures Process Enters Stakeholder Inspection,” MISO Planning Advisory Committee Briefs.)

Feedback on the forecasts should be emailed to mtepfutures@misoenergy.org.

Long-Term Overlay Study Scoped; MISO Asks for More Responses

MISO has issued a draft scope for its Regional Transmission Overlay Study. The study will identify needs to develop a regional transmission plan and identify candidate projects by 2019 using the three futures created for MTEP 17. (See “MTEP 17 Futures Finalized,” MISO Planning Advisory Committee Briefs.)

“The purpose of the study is really to get our arms around what the system needs,” said Lynn Hecker, MISO manager of expansion planning.

MISO has already received a first round of comments on the study scope, with stakeholders raising many issues, including asking the RTO to incorporate non-transmission alternatives and encouraging it to work with the Organization of MISO States. Some would like to create another stakeholder group to oversee the overlay.

Hecker, who called the comments “very insightful,” said that MISO has reached out to individual states but not OMS. Hecker said further scope development will be handled by MISO’s Economic Planning Users Group.

Adam McKinnie, chief utility economist of the Missouri Public Service Commission, said OMS would have appreciated direct discussion from MISO on possible overlay needs.

Hwikwon Ham, a staffer with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, said it is imperative that MISO continue to reach out to state regulators with scope information.

Stakeholders also asked to what degree the Clean Power Plan would influence the overlay. Ham said use of the CPP in the overlay should not be considered “controversial” because MISO’s resource mix is changing regardless of whether the rule survives.

In February, the Supreme Court stayed the plan pending resolution of legal challenges. Oral arguments are scheduled before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for Sept. 27.

Hecker said the MTEP 17 futures will be flexible enough regardless of whether the CPP “comes back to life.”

MISO will also revisit the overlay’s future scenarios when MTEP 18 futures are developed to determine if overlay assumptions need to be refreshed.

Another round of stakeholder input on the overlay scope is due Oct. 5. MISO plans to release a finalized scope at the Oct. 19 PAC meeting and schedule the first technical study meeting in November.

MISO to Update Long-Term Planning BPM

MISO is planning some housekeeping on Business Practices Manual 020, which governs the RTO’s long-term planning process.

Zheng Zhou, an economic studies engineer, said the changes will only be a clean-up to reflect long-term planning practices already in place. “This section hasn’t been updated for quite some time, and we understand that this BPM is important to our stakeholders,” Zhou said.

Updates include adding to the MTEP futures development MISO’s 2015 process reforms, which allowed futures to be reused across MTEPs, and a more detailed inclusion of MISO’s seven-step value-based planning process, which identifies and tests transmission fixes.

MISO hopes to file the changes by early 2017. Stakeholder input on the updates is due Oct. 19.

— Amanda Durish Cook