MISO received its first expedited project review request since replacing its former out-of-cycle review process, Senior Manager of Transmission Expansion Planning Thompson Adu told the Planning Advisory Committee on March 16.
Michigan Electric Transmission is seeking accelerated consideration to construct two 138-kV feeds to a new substation in Coldwater, Mich., with an in-service target of April 2017. The company said the upgrade is needed to serve 83 MW of load, including 33 MVA of new industrial and commercial load.
The company maintains that waiting until December for 2016 MISO Transmission Expansion Plan approval would not give the project enough time to meet the in-service date requested by its customers.
Transmission Planning BPM Advances to full PAC
The Planning Subcommittee has approved MISO’s Transmission Planning Business Practices Manual 020, moving the document to the PAC for consideration.
Matthew Tackett, a MISO principal adviser, said the BPM language was modified to include NERC transmission planning standards and Order 1000 cost-sharing provisions. Tackett said additional text also addressed the NERC MOD-032 standard, which establishes reliability planning modeling data requirements and reporting procedures.
Tackett said the edits do not represent policy changes.
“As the planning process evolves over time, it makes sense to incrementally make these changes,” Tackett said.
MISO’s second round of stakeholder input on the BPM yielded fewer comments, indicating consensus is near, Tackett said. The changes have been vetted through three PSC meetings, and MISO said it was not aware of unresolved issues or dissenting opinions from stakeholders. (See “Expedited Review Process Nears Approval with ‘Good Consensus,’” MISO Planning Subcommittee Briefs.)
Tackett submitted the nearly finalized language for a third round of comments through April 11.
Attachment Y Tariff Filing Moved Back Again
A proposed MISO Tariff revision requiring generation resources to submit Attachment Y notices at least 26 weeks prior to a planned suspension or retirement has been delayed by another month.
Joe Reddoch of MISO’s System Support Resource Planning Group said short intervals between meetings precluded a planned filing with FERC later this month, following another postponement in February. (See “Attachment Y Adjustments Put on Hold for a Month,” MISO Planning Advisory Committee Briefs.)
The Tariff revisions also stipulate that generators provide written notification when canceling or changing notices, as well as requiring owners rescinding an approved Attachment Y to re-enter the generator interconnection process. Additionally, MISO wants to relax confidentiality provisions surrounding Attachment Y information after a retirement date has passed.
Reddoch said MISO was not attempting to “overhaul” the system support resource program with the changes. He asked stakeholders to provide feedback by April 16 to facilitate a FERC filing late next month.
— Amanda Durish Cook
