There’s no going back on waning capacity in MISO, panelists agreed at a gathering of state regulators, though predictions of escalating load growth have some skeptical.

Ameren executives have reassured shareholders that Missouri’s capacity shortfall beginning this summer is no cause for panic.

MISO said its second seasonal capacity auction returned sufficient capacity in all zones except a portion of Missouri, where prices soared to more than $700/MW-day in fall and spring.

Key deadlines already have arrived for MISO’s spring capacity auction, while MISO has hiked its planning reserve margin for the 2024/25 planning year.

Stakeholders appear divided over MISO’s proposal to use a downward sloping demand curve in its capacity auction, with criticisms mostly aimed at a provision to allow utilities to opt out of the auction for three years at a time.

MISO has calculated significant increases in its annual cost of new entry for use in its capacity auction in the 2024/25 planning year.

State regulators of MISO South are withholding support for MISO’s plan to implement a sloped demand curve in its capacity auctions based on a proposed option for states to shield themselves from the effects.

MISO is holding to its plan to enact a widescale marginal capacity accreditation while swapping risky hours for peak load to calculate its reserve margin requirements.

In the wake of MISO’s first seasonal capacity auction, members have asked the RTO to improve its generator outage rules, preliminary data sharing and the registry tool used to track capacity.

A comfortable result for MISO's 2023/24 auction does not guarantee sufficient capacity during the coming summer, executives said.