A new group formed to represent electric ratepayer interests has raised questions about interactions between MISO’s Independent Market Monitor and the state regulatory agencies seeking to overturn the RTO’s $22 billion long-range transmission portfolio through a FERC complaint.

MISO announced it will reassign multimillion-dollar substation work in Wisconsin to American Transmission Co. in order to meet a sped-up construction timeline for data center load.

MISO opened a third review of a long-range transmission project, this time because three substations are needed more than five years ahead of schedule to accommodate new data center load.

Stakeholders told MISO it might have anticipated an impending cost increase for a long-range transmission project in the works in Minnesota that jumped about 43% in price to nearly $1.4 billion.

MISO selected a 50/50 joint venture between Transource and Berkshire Hathaway Energy Transmission to build a $1.2 billion, 765-kV project from the RTO’s second long-range transmission portfolio.

MISO has indicated that new generation to serve data centers and other large loads will be mission critical over 2026 and said it will take pains to interconnect units.

MISO opened another review of a second project from its first long-range transmission plan portfolio, prompted again by construction cost overruns.

FERC dismissed Ameren’s bid to gain exclusive rights to build nearly $2 billion of MISO regional transmission projects in the state free of competitors.

MISO South states have signaled their intent to strike out on their own on a cost allocation design for long-range transmission projects located exclusively in the South subregion.

MISO predicts it will have anywhere from 383 GW to 454 GW of installed capacity its footprint by 2045, according to a preliminary version of its 20-year planning futures.