MISO last week reversed its position on the possibility of developing a limited coordinated system planning study with SPP.
The Planning Advisory Committee approved a recommendation that the RTO participate in a study identifying joint transmission needs along MISO’s seam with SPP’s Integrated System in North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa.
The committee will vote on the motion via email, with results tallied at its June 15 meeting.
MISO staff last month recommended forgoing a coordinated study and focusing instead on improving the study process. SPP’s Seams Steering Committee voted in favor of embarking on a study. (See MISO, SPP Disagree on 2016 Joint Study.)
Eric Thoms, MISO manager of planning coordination and strategy, said the RTO has since adjusted its views, adding that a study focused on one target area would be more helpful than an all-encompassing study.
MISO PAC liaison Jeff Webb said the change resulted from stakeholder requests for some form of study with SPP despite the views of RTO staff.
“It’s not a matter of us being tired of doing studies,” he said. “That’s what we’re here for.”
MISO is also open to a coordinated Clean Power Plan-related study in 2017 after regional needs are identified in MTEP 17.
Interregional process improvements will continue regardless of the study decision, Thoms said.
The committee rejected another motion submitted by the Transmission Developers sector that recommended that MISO perform a broader coordinated study to evaluate the “impact of higher renewable penetration [and] alternative transfer scenarios on interregional reliability needs and historical high congestion along the MISO North/Central and SPP seam.”
MTEP 17 Futures Finalized
MISO has narrowed its 2017 Transmission Expansion Planning (MTEP 17) to three futures, eliminating a limited carbon emission scenario determined to be too similar to an existing fleet future. (See MISO Proposes 3 New MTEP 17 Futures.)
The final MTEP 17 futures are:
- An existing fleet future with limited fleet changes and no modeled carbon cap;
- An accelerated alternative technologies future that envisions innovation fostering a 30% carbon emissions reduction; and
- A policy regulations future in which federal rules drive a 25% reduction in carbon emissions.
MISO adjusted the existing fleet scenario after stakeholders pointed out that low natural gas prices increase activity in the industrial corridor of Zone 9 along the Gulf Coast. Additionally, no scenarios will assume the renewable tax credit extends beyond 2022, which stakeholders pointed out was an uncertainty.
The futures went through three rounds of formal review and “reflect a balance of stakeholder feedback [while] bookending uncertainty,” said Matt Ellis, a MISO policy studies engineer.
“Even if the [Clean Power Plan] stay is overturned, these three futures still make sense,” Ellis added.
The PAC will further discuss the MTEP 17 futures during its June and July meetings. Planning wraps up in September with a presentation of a finalized regional resource forecast.
MISO Releases EPA Air Pollution Rule Study and CPP Paper
While MISO states will be compliant with EPA’s updated Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) in 2017 even without NOx emission trading, RTO staff say a regional trading arrangement would be the least expensive path to compliance.
That finding was the result of MISO’s own CSAPR study, according to Jordan Bakke, senior policy studies engineer for the RTO.
MISO studied three scenarios: a business-as-usual case; a no-trading scenario in which states strive for compliance individually; and seasonal NOx trading among MISO states from May to September.
Bakke noted that 11 of the 23 states affected by the CSAPR rule are in MISO.
MISO states can meet their 2017 seasonal NOx budget through a redispatch of natural gas for coal, but they would emit right up to their caps.
Under seasonal NOx allowance trading, MISO production costs increase $31 million compared with a business-as-usual case without rule compliance.
If MISO states fail to adopt trading, overall costs rise, with Arkansas carrying the brunt at nearly $200 million in production, interchange and emission costs to achieve 2017 compliance. With emissions trading, Iowa carries the largest cost, at less than $25 million.
MISO used its 2015 Transmission Expansion Plan and 2017 forecast data to inform modeling, which included 2017 retirements and a projected $2.64/MMBtu Henry Hub price for natural gas. Current emissions-control technology was assumed to remain in place, with CSAPR compliance achieved only through energy and emission trading.
Footprint Diversity Study Timeline Accelerated
Stakeholders say MISO’s proposed footprint diversity study should begin sooner than the RTO first suggested. The study would examine the benefits of expanding flows on the constrained transmission interface linking the RTO’s North/Central and South regions, including exploring the option of building new transmission. (See MISO Proposes Study to Measure Benefits of New North-South Tx.)
MISO Director of Policy Studies J.T. Smith said the RTO will scope out a study process beginning in the fall, with a study targeted to begin in 2017. The Economic Planning Users Group will evaluate scope development.
— Amanda Durish Cook
