MISO continues to try to get a bead on load growth and took stakeholder suggestions this week on how best to monitor sizable future load additions across the footprint.
MISO since late June has maintained a list of large load announcements in its footprint.
At an Aug. 14 Advisory Committee teleconference, Stakeholder Services Executive Director Suzie Jaworowski said MISO envisions the list becoming a dashboard-style feature on its website to track significant new load announcements.
MISO members asked that the list contain features to make it easier to interpret.
The Coalition of Midwest Power Producers’ Travis Stewart asked MISO to include a baseline load forecast alongside the load additions list. He said it would be helpful to compare forecasts made before large load announcements.
“There isn’t a reference point for load forecasts one year, five years and 10 years down the line and how these incremental increases are going to affect [them],” Stewart said.
However, Jaworowski said the load catalog isn’t meant to serve as a forecasting document or be used for planning purposes.
“This is just one more channel … that opens our eyes to the potential. It doesn’t mean all of these are going to be built,” Jaworowski said.
Clean Grid Alliance’s Beth Soholt said the list is “confusing” because it’s not clear which projects load-serving entities already have included in the load projections they submit to MISO.
“I think the key question is, ‘Are we planning for these?’” Soholt said.
The Union of Concerned Scientists’ Sam Gomberg also requested that MISO indicate which load entries are planned to host onsite generation.
Jaworowski said MISO would consider both suggestions.
“I think as we move forward, this will evolve into something very helpful for everyone,” she said.
Minnesota Public Utilities Commissioner Joe Sullivan said MISO neglected to add Microsoft’s intentions for the vacant manufacturing space at Foxconn’s facility between Milwaukee and Chicago, as well as Google’s plan for a data center in rural Minnesota.
Jaworowski said MISO compiled the list after researching publicly announced plans for new or expanded facilities. She said planners will search again for missing plans.
MISO has said it plans to update its load addition list periodically as more announcements are made. In June, MISO executives said announced load additions in the footprint from manufacturing projects and data centers totaled more than 8 GW. (See MISO Leadership Issues Urgent Call for In-Service Dates, MISO Members Stress Need for Speed to Manage Load Growth, EPA Carbon Rule.)
The Advisory Committee will have a daylong meeting Sept. 18 in Indianapolis during MISO Board Week. There, members plan to hold a discussion on how to keep costs affordable as the demand for electricity rises and aging infrastructure is traded for new grid technologies.
