Two power grid operators serving the U.S. Midwest are proposing to build $1.7 billion worth of new transmission lines to fill in “seams” between their networks, a move that could set a template other parts of the country can follow to unlock massive amounts of clean power and build more of the transmission lines needed to meet U.S. clean energy goals.
Last week, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Submitted Plan The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is seeking permission to implement what SPP’s application describes as “an unprecedented, innovative and proactive collaboration between the two transmission utilities.”
So-called Joint Target Interconnect Queue The (JTIQ) process is Ongoing since 2020MISO and SPP have committed to working together to identify transmission projects that could create value for customers along the border separating the jurisdictions of both transmission utilities.
That border stretches from Canada into Louisiana, passing through the Great Plains, the nation’s most productive region for wind power and a target for a growing number of solar farms.
Why Mississippi coal is powering Georgia data centers
But many of these projects are stuck in the lengthy interconnection process. The five new joint transmission projects proposed as part of the JTIQ would connect the two grid systems across the portion of the border highlighted in yellow on the map below, and could help ease the interconnection of between 28 and 53 gigawatts worth of projects planned in the region, the research firm said. Joint Presentation From two grid operators.
The cross-border transmission capacity gap is a well-known issue. Multiple studies by grid operators, government agencies, universities, and independent analysts have shown that the cost of building new transmission lines to fill the gap is more than justified by the long-term value to the grid: its ability to relieve congestion and deliver cheaper, cleaner energy.
But despite the obvious benefits, interregional transmission projects have been slow to get off the ground in recent years. MISO, SPP, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the grid operator for the state of Texas, undertook a series of joint grid expansion projects in the 2000s and early 2010s. But since then, Large-scale grid expansion has slowed dramaticallyThe gaps have been filled by small upgrades and expansions within utilities’ service territories — a simpler but much more costly way of building the grid that benefits individual utilities more than ratepayers or the power system as a whole.
Overcoming the “three hurdles” of interregional power transmission planning
Things get complicated quickly when planning transmission lines that span multiple grid operators, because such projects must overcome what energy analysts call “three hurdles” for interregional grid planning:
The first two hurdles are navigating the complex negotiations between grid planners, the utilities that own the grid, state regulators, and other stakeholders about costs and benefits within each grid operator. The third hurdle is negotiating the even more difficult aspects of coordinated transmission planning and cost sharing between the two grid operators.
MISO and SPP’s new JTIQ tariff structure represents a major step forward in consolidating these separate processes into a unified approach. Theodore ParadisePartner in the Energy, Infrastructure, and Resources practice at the law firm K&L Gates.
The two transmission operators “have begun to identify cooperative transmission initiatives that can interconnect more generation and be done in a more cost-effective manner than either party acting alone,” he said in an email to Canary Media.
Biden Administration Announces Over $2 Billion in Grants to Strengthen U.S. Electric Grid
That’s not to say the structure MISO and SPP have put together is ideal, said Rob Gramlich, president of the consulting firm Grid Strategies, who noted that the five transmission projects proposed in this first round are too small in scale compared with what’s not only possible but necessary to build cheaper, cleaner energy.
This first set of projects also does not yet address the challenge of requiring utilities within each grid operator to pay a portion of the costs of proposed grid projects, Gramlich said in an email to Canary Media. Instead, as stated in the SPP filing with FERC, energy project developers “will be responsible for the costs of JTIQ upgrades within their SPP and/or MISO footprints.”
“Many generators are concerned that electricity demand in both regions benefits from this transmission but does not share the costs,” Gramlich said. “This is not a model for future interregional planning efforts.”
Preparation of inter-regional transmission plans
In fact, plans for this first round of projects would not have been able to move forward without hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government, Gramlich said, which he said reduced the percentage of costs project developers had to bear.
October 2023, DOE issues $3.5 billion in grid grants The grants were donated to projects across the country. One of the largest grants was $464 million Supported by $1.3 billion in cost-sharing commitments from participants, we provided funding to the Minnesota Department of Commerce to facilitate JTIQ activities.
“The Department of Energy’s funding has been essential to getting us this far,” Gramlich said. “If the Department of Energy were to take action like this in more regions, it would help facilitate the kind of large-scale interregional transmission we need.”
From the research U.S. Department of Energy, Massachusetts Institute of Technologyand Princeton University Shows the benefits of constructing more buildings Power lines connecting remote areas This includes mitigating congestion costs caused by bottlenecks that prevent the adoption of cheaper wind and solar power, and reducing the risk of blackouts by sharing power between areas that tend to experience different weather conditions.
The region’s coal-heavy cooperative power company is buying its first solar power plant.
Long-distance transmission is also key to solving the climate crisis by expanding our capacity to build clean electricity. Nationwide, the wait time for projects to add thousands of gigawatts to the grid currently averages 1.2 hours. More than 3.5 yearsAccording to data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
According to MISO and SPP Joint PresentationThe developers aim to connect about 350 gigawatts of energy to the MISO grid and 84 gigawatts to SPP. Most of these proposed plants would be wind, solar and battery facilities. According to LBNL data: Far more projects in the MISO and SPP queues over the past few years have been withdrawn than have been successfully interconnected.
Even if interconnection projects are approved, they often have to pay millions of dollars in grid upgrades to get the power flowing through the overburdened U.S. grid.
This year’s FERC A local transmission order was issued. Grid operators and utilities need to consider these benefits when planning their long-term grid. MISO’s multi-billion dollar long-distance transmission planafter a decade of little action, it’s now starting to happen.
But K&L Gates’ Paradise noted that JITQ has so far outdone FERC on interregional transmission policy. In fact, “the search for practical solutions has progressed in areas where enabling rules have not yet been approved,” he wrote.
Other grid operators have also begun considering interregional plans. Earlier this year, MISO and PJM, the grid operators that manage planning and energy markets for a region that includes 13 states from Illinois to Virginia and Washington, D.C., announced plans to begin interregional planning. Process started It aims to “address joint communication analysis and collaborative modeling” to meet joint needs.
There’s still a lot of work to be done before MISO and SPP’s JTIQ plan can come to fruition. First, FERC must review and approve proposed changes to the two grid operators’ rate plans (an industry term for rules to ensure that the grid and the energy market it enables meets all federal regulations). If that happens by the November 2024 timeline the two grid operators are calling for, it will then take years to site, permit, and actually build the five new lines.
But Grid Strategies’ Gramlich said that as a first attempt, JTIQ could help lay the groundwork for more interregional efforts in the coming years. “At least planners from both regions have agreed on a model, a methodology, a structure and a cost allocation plan,” he said. “More work needs to be done, with more regional planning organizations.”
