NEW ORLEANS — MISO last week signed a new Operations Reliability Coordination Agreement (ORCA) with its southern neighbors, increasing the flow limits within the MISO footprint.

MISO reached this agreement with SPP and the so-called “Joint Parties” — neighboring systems including Southern Co., Tennessee Valley Authority, Associated Electric Cooperatives, Louisville Gas & Electric, Kentucky Utilities and the PowerSouth Energy Cooperative.

Jennifer Curran, vice president of system planning and seams coordination, told the Board of Directors that the new agreement, which was filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Feb. 27, increases MISO’s ability to flow from 2,000 MW to a total of 3,000 MW in the area (ER15-1141).

MISO said the signing of the new agreement will allow it and its neighbors to continue work on a long-term, market-based solution. The original ORCA was due to expire April 1. The new pact will expire on April 1, 2016, or earlier if FERC approves a replacement arrangement sooner.

MISO “continues to believe that current industry-wide reliability measures more than sufficiently protect system reliability and coordination,” the RTO said in a statement. “However, MISO is pleased to have developed a cooperative agreement to accommodate the desire for greater experience for its neighbors.”

No Rush on Review of Entergy Out-of-Cycle Tx Projects

The board will rule “no earlier than April” on Entergy’s request for approval of six out-of-cycle transmission projects totaling $220 million, Director Michael Evans said. Evans said the board would begin its review this month.

Entergy’s request for a $187 million transmission upgrade near Lake Charles, La., has become a lightning rod for transmission developers, who have accused the company of seeking an out-of-cycle designation to avoid opening the project to competition.

The Lake Charles project and five smaller out-of-cycle proposals failed to win unanimous support at the Planning Advisory Committee last month, setting up a “full” review by the board. (See MISO Board to Review Entergy Lake Charles Project Following Stakeholder Pushback.)

New MISO Chair Plans Changes on Governance; Higher Board Profile

New MISO Board Chair Judy Walsh said last week she will seek a review of the RTO’s governance principles while increasing the board’s visibility with state regulators.

Walsh, a former Texas Public Utility Commissioner who took the gavel in January, said the RTO has “looked mostly inward” in the past but needs to increase its outreach because of challenges such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed carbon emission rule.

She asked Director Eugene Zeltman, chair of the Governance Committee, to review the term and role of the chair. “If the board will represent MISO before [the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners] and state regulators, perhaps more visibility and continuity may be desirable,” she said.

In the interim, she said, Director Michael Curran will continue to represent the board with outside parties, building on the relationships he developed during his recently completed two-year term as chairman.

Walsh asked the Governance Committee to review “all principles of governance,” including stakeholder relations, conflicts of interest standards and the Nominating Committee process, saying she hoped to have changes ready for adoption by the end of the year.

She said MISO management “has challenged itself to look at all operations and processes [to] ensure we are consistent and that a policy adopted for one purpose does not get in the way of us accomplishing our overall goals.”

She also said the Advisory Committee should consider reducing the number of subcommittees it has and the time spent in meetings.

MISO Names New Security Chief; Plans Additional Cybersecurity Spending

MISO will increase its technology budget “by a confidential amount” in order to eliminate the use of shared infrastructure between critical and non-critical assets, Director Baljit Dail said.

The spending is necessary to comply with tightened Critical Infrastructure Protection standards that will take effect in 2016.

The spending will be overseen by the RTO’s newly appointed Chief Information Security Officer Mark Brooks, who joined the RTO several weeks ago.

Incentive Payout: 68.8%

The board awarded MISO employees 68.8% of their potential incentive awards under its short-term incentive program for 2014.

The incentives are based on achievements measured against a weighted list of seven metrics: reliability standards, unit commitment efficiency, market efficiency, compliance with operations and capital spending budgets, customer satisfaction and strategic initiatives.

The board judged staff’s performance “excellent” for capital budgeting and “mid-range” for most other measures.

— Rich Heidorn Jr.