MISO has almost finalized its Clean Power Plan analysis after incorporating stakeholder feedback.
Senior Policy Studies Engineer Jordan Bakke said MISO integrated most comments and corrections from five stakeholder groups. The RTO also added an executive summary, reorganized the report for clarity and added explanations on modeling methods and assumptions before sections presenting detailed results.
MISO didn’t accept all stakeholder recommendations, rejecting a request not to take a position on the most inexpensive compliance strategies. The RTO has concluded that a mass-based plan would be less costly than a rate-based plan. (See MISO: Mass-Based CPP Plan 1/3 Cost of Rate-Based.) It said that it “simply laid out … observations and indicated the conditions that are needed for the different compliance implementations.”
“We wanted to stay away from absolute statements on which compliance methods should be used,” Bakke said.
MISO also declined to compare its study with CPP studies by other RTOs, saying the purpose of its study is an independent analysis of its member states.
“As we are not active participants in other studies, a comparison would be best conducted by a third party and should be kept outside the scope of MISO’s report,” the RTO said.
Bakke said MISO and PJM would begin to jointly scope an evaluation of CPP compliance along the MISO-PJM seam in late July.
“We haven’t decided exactly what the study will look like,” Bakke said. “It will be somewhat limited in nature. We want to focus on what is the impact of the two regions coming together” with possibly divergent compliance methods and trading programs.
MISO will finalize the report after reviewing stakeholder input on the executive summary, which is due July 1.
MTEP 17 Futures Process Enters Stakeholder Inspection
MISO is seeking input on a complex approach to the Transmission Expansion Plan 2017 (MTEP 17) futures analysis that relies on stakeholders weighting the probability that particular developments will occur.
The weightings would reflect RTO staff and member consensus on the relative probability and impact of future economic and policy conditions to assess the cost-effectiveness of different transmission solutions.
MISO is proposing to use a 30% weighting for existing trends, 40% for policy regulations and 30% for accelerated alternative technologies.
Matt Ellis, senior transmission planning engineer, said MISO’s North and South zones will use a single set of weights for the MTEP 17 scope.
He said carbon reduction regulation is the single biggest unknown in the 2017 weighting process, but reductions are likely to advance regardless of policy decision.
“Even with the [CPP] stay, we see our members going forward with compliance plans,” Ellis said. “We see regulations aren’t the ceiling — they’re the floor.”
MISO is asking sector representatives to complete a futures weighting feedback form by June 29.
RTO officials also launched a third and final stakeholder comment period for the MTEP 17 generation siting process, a prediction of where resources will be built that is intended to guide future transmission expansion.
MISO is proposing to prioritize sites associated with generators in the interconnection queue without a signed agreement, existing brownfield sites, and sites for retired and mothballed generation that have not been redeveloped.
Ellis said mothballed sites usually contain infrastructure that can be reused and will be considered before greenfield sites, for which planners have to ask, “‘Is it close to a natural gas pipe? What sort of distance to load does it have?’”
MISO won’t site thermal units in National Ambient Air Quality Standards nonattainment areas in the South region unless nearby coal units retire.
For wind siting, MISO will expand beyond sites provided by the existing Regional Generator Outlet Study (RGOS) because of the possibility that wind additions will surpass renewable portfolio standards. Renewable planning firm Vibrant Clean Energy said that by combining RGOS Zone wind capacity and active and withdrawn wind projects in the queue, MISO could site about 50 GW of new wind projects, with the potential to site an additional 34 GW.
The RTO is also considering adding zonal resource adequacy requirements into MTEP 17 futures to ensure that it meets both local clearing requirements and the current North/South 1,000-MW transfer restriction.
MISO will also site commercial and industrial demand response near the 10 busiest industrial buses and residential DR near the 10 busiest nonindustrial buses in each local balancing area. Distributed generation will be similarly sited by using data from the top 10 load buses in each local balancing area.
The RTO is asking for stakeholders to comment on proposed siting methodology by June 29. It will address the overall MTEP 17 study scope during the July 20 PAC meeting.
Duff-Coleman Proposals due July 6
Proposals for the Duff-Coleman transmission project — MISO’s first competitively bid transmission line — are due July 6. The RTO will select a developer by Dec. 30.
Brian Pedersen, senior manager of competitive transmission administration, said MISO will accept proposals from qualified developers who have provided a $100,000 deposit.
MISO will begin considering proposals once they are submitted, even if they are turned in ahead of the bid deadline. It will post a list of bidders by Aug. 19.
— Amanda Durish Cook
The state’s cap-and-trade system faces an uncertain future after just 11% of available carbon allowances were sold during last month’s quarterly auction, generating only 2% of expected revenues. Some analysts attribute the surplus of allowances to other state programs that effectively limit utilities’ emissions and their demand for allowances.
A state court of appeals ruled that Commonwealth Edison isn’t required to extend net metering rates to community solar projects in a defeat for a consumer protection group and the Environmental Defense Fund.
The Public Service Commission has approved regulations setting the foundation for a community solar pilot program that will go into effect next month.
Minnesota Power said it will study the implications of reducing its coal reliance after the Public Utilities Commission approved the utility’s 15-year resource plan, which calls for more investments in wind, solar and natural gas and the retirement of coal units at two plants.
Kansas City Power and Light will pay the City of Independence’s utility nearly $12 million in installments during the next four years to settle a disagreement over transmission costs.
NorthWestern Energy asked the Public Service Commission to cut the amount it is mandated to pay to commercial solar projects of 3 MW or less. The utility told the PSC that the mandated price to qualified facilities is too high and is hurting consumers.
A state judge expressed alarm last week at the estimated 200 million gallons of contaminated water seeping annually from leaky ash-storage ponds at the Coltstrip power plant and allowed a lawsuit challenging the state’s enforcement efforts to proceed.
The New Hampshire Electric Cooperative is the first buyer of power produced by the Antrim Wind project. The cooperative will purchase 25% of the $65 million project’s output, or about 7.2 MW.
Regulators approved the first rate increases in four years for Rochester Gas & Electric and New York State Electric and Gas customers. The increases are effective July 1 and will be phased in over two years.
Two state legislators introduced a bill last week that would force PSEG-Long Island to separate electricity purchasing planning from system management to reduce what the lawmakers believe is a conflict of interest.
The Roanoke River Basin Association has filed another lawsuit against Duke Energy over its coal ash management, this one alleging that Duke’s Mayo power plant violated the federal Clean Water Act.
The Public Service Commission last week unanimously approved the contentious $250 million, 87-turbine Brady Wind Energy Center I. The NextEra Energy Resources project will provide 150 MW of power for Basin Electric Power Cooperative.
A Public Utilities Commission nominating committee pared down a list of nine candidates to four to fill a vacancy, and now the final selection will be made by Gov. John Kasich.
State regulators approved infrastructure improvement plans for FirstEnergy’s four Pennsylvania utilities, which will allow the utilities to recover the costs through customer charges effective July 1.
The State Corporation Commission questioned Dominion Virginia Power’s request for a $140 million proposal to bury its most vulnerable power lines to decrease outages.
