Some members of the Organization of MISO States are implying that MISO’s new interregional study with PJM is falling short of their hopes for a rigorous search for seams transmission projects.
At an Aug. 14 MISO Advisory Committee meeting, OMS Executive Director Tricia DeBleeckere said OMS is exploring next steps regarding whether the requests contained in its joint letter with the Organization of PJM States Inc. (OPSI) line up with the aims of MISO and PJM’s new transfer capability study. She also said OMS wants more visibility from MISO into the inaugural study.
OMS and MISO will continue to meet to discuss the scope of the study, regulatory staff said at an Aug. 15 OMS Board of Directors meeting.
MISO and PJM have said they will pursue only smaller, near-term projects at the seams for the inaugural study, not the more complex, interregional construction that requires greenfield development. (See Smaller Projects Expected from Maiden MISO-PJM Joint Tx Study.)
At a late July OMS meeting, Michigan Public Service Commission Chairman Dan Scripps said representatives from the Organization of MISO States approached officials about the limits of the study scope.
Scripps said while MISO may envision potential projects as a simple reconductoring of lines, that’s not exactly what OMS and the OPSI meant when they requested more meaningful interregional planning.
“I think there are some additional conversations needed, and I hope we can go further than what’s been put on the table,” Scripps said.
At the time, Scripps said regulators would meet with MISO planners again on “whether this hits the mark.”
“We kind of got cut out of the conversation on the scoping of this study,” Wisconsin Public Service Commissioner Marcus Hawkins said.
Responding to regulators’ observations, MISO Vice President of System Planning Aubrey Johnson said MISO and PJM “have a long history of working together to address operational and planning challenges in our regions.”
“We will continue working with our regulators and other grid operators to explore interregional planning solutions with a focus on both addressing near-term needs and building a framework for future studies,” Johnson said in a statement to RTO Insider.
At the August Advisory Committee, MISO members said OMS and OPSI’s letter urging more dynamic joint planning should be featured during Board Week meeting Sept. 18, where RTO members and board members are set to hold a discussion titled “Seams: Reliability and Market Efficiency Across Borders.”
WEC Energy Group’s Chris Plante said MISO and PJM also should consider improving coordination on larger projects that are near the seams but aren’t interregional projects. He cited ComEd’s expansion of its 765-kV Wilton Center substation to accommodate more renewable energy and its potential impact on the RTO’s footprint.
