MISO on path to reduce queue process to one year with reforms, technology: executive

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator is on a path to reduce its interconnection queue processing time frame for generation projects to one year because of ongoing work to clear the backlog and the implementation of technology to automate interconnection studies, MISO executive Aubrey Johnson said in an interview.

Johnson, MISO's vice president of system planning and competitive transmission, spoke Feb. 19 to Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, during the Gulf Coast Power Association's annual MISO/Southwest Power Pool conference in New Orleans. He discussed reforms MISO has undertaken within the last year to manage a huge increase in grid interconnection requests and other measures it plans to pursue to address the matter.

The grid operator is collaborating with Pittsburgh-based Pearl Street Technologies to implement automation to help complete queue Phase 1 studies in a shorter period than current timelines. MISO will also place an annual cap on the size of its queue starting next fall, also part of its plan to reduce the backlog and study timeline, after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the proposal Jan. 30.

MISO officials have said the goal is to reduce the queue processing time frame for generation projects to one year by the 2028 cycle from a current average timeline of three to four years for a project to move through the Definitive Planning Phase process. The current timeline has resulted in a significant backlog in the queue, which contains 1,705 projects representing 312 GW of generating capacity as of Feb. 25.

"The technology that we are implementing is looking to be very, very promising," Johnson said. "We've met with our transmission owners and started sharing some of that information with them. We'll continue to meet with them and other stakeholders to really, I would say, share the story of where we're going, how we're progressing, how the technology is working. And we're very, very excited about that."

ERAS proposal

As MISO works on the long-term solution for the backlogged queue, it is finalizing a near-term plan to help speed up the interconnection process for generation projects deemed urgent.

MISO, which manages the electric grid across 15 Midwestern and Southern US states and the Canadian province Manitoba, is working on a proposal called the Expedited Resource Addition Study, or ERAS, which it says is meant to be a temporary solution to fast-track the approval process for new generation needed to help member states meet resource adequacy. The grid operator intends to file the proposal with FERC in mid-March and request an effective date of June 1.

Johnson said that ERAS was formulated to address resource shortages that might come along with expected power demand growth spurred by data centers and other new large loads coming to the MISO footprint.

Passage of the ERAS proposal may help assuage the concerns of some MISO stakeholders who criticized the grid operator for not including exemptions in the queue cap plan for projects that state regulators consider necessary to maintain resource adequacy. Some of the stakeholders pondered how their concerns would be addressed in the event FERC approved the queue cap proposal but rejected the ERAS plan.

A sign of challenges to come

MISO's work to make its interconnection queue process more efficient comes as the region continues to grapple with both short-term and long-term challenges around resource adequacy.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation on Dec. 17 highlighted MISO as a "high risk" area in its 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment, saying that its resource additions are not keeping up with generator retirements and demand growth. NERC projects that MISO could face capacity shortfalls as soon as this summer.

Looking even further out, MISO released Dec. 18 the results of its 2024 Regional Resource Assessment, which showed that the region may need 343 GW of additional installed capacity by 2043 to meet members and states' policy goals and maintain resource adequacy. This means MISO members and states may need to add capacity at an unprecedented rate of 17 GW/year through 2043 to meet future demand and policy goals. This rate is well above the average of 4.7 GW annual installed capacity average reflected in projects from planning years 2020-2022 that have communicated a commercial operation date to MISO, according to a Dec. 18 workshop presentation.

Johnson said the resource assessment "gives us a signal" on just how much urgency MISO has to have in getting much more generation online sooner.

"Last year, if my memory serves me correctly, we had a little over 7 GW of new resources come on," Johnson said. "If you just think about the big picture, the big picture says we should have roughly 20 GW of resources coming online. We had 7 GW. As long as we have that level of disparity, there is a possibility that we will continue to look to be a challenge, especially as you start thinking about load growth and other things that are coming forward."