The forces of party politics have been working overtime to bottle up renewable energy development in the US, but here comes MISO to topple the apple cart. MISO is the system operator for the electrical grid in 15 central states. It just announced the largest portfolio of transmission line projects ever proposed in the US, starting with a $10.3 billion investment in 18 new projects for the northern portion of its territory.
More renewable energy for the US
MISO (pronounced em-EYE-soh) stands for Central Continent Independent System Operatoran agency that oversees a grid area that divides the US practically in the middle and extends into Canada.
MISO covers all parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin, and the province of Manitoba in Canada.
The states involved in the plan for 18 new transmission line projects are Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota. Several states in that region are already pursuing wind energy hand over hand, and some recent activity in the solar energy field indicates that the solar profile of the area is also in flux.
MISO sailed across the CleanTechnica radar during the Obama administration, when the grid began to fill up with some of the first large-scale wind farms in the U.S.
“As early as 2012, MISO reported a peak, record-setting wind power output of 10,012 megawatts,” we noted.
That was just for the start. “Driven by the nation’s desire for cleaner energy and state mandates for renewable energy portfolios, MISO now manages more than 11,000 MW of wind generation in service, with more than 7,000 MW of projects progressing through interconnection requirements,” MISO reported in 2016.
Just four years later, MISO reported: 22,040 MW from in–maintenance installed wind capacity, and there’s a lot more where that came from.
Breaking the bottleneck
That’s the good news. The other news is that there is only so much transmission capacity left, and MISO is well aware that avid renewable energy developers in their area have been queuing up to plug their clean kilowatts into transmission lines. That’s queue, like waiting in line to hook up. And, wait.
The problem, as in other parts of the US, is that renewable energy sources are deep, but long-distance transmission capacity is shallow.
That’s almost over. Our friends at the Clean Grid Alliance estimates that the 18 new MISO projects alone will unlock 53 gigawatts in new wind, solar, hybrid and battery-type energy storage projects.
“[That’s] enot enough power about 12 million homes and 213,000 jobs”, says CGA enthusiastically. “About 120,000 jobs can also are estimated at result of the transmission workso we can to expect about 333.000 jobs in total of the transmission work and sustainable raw material build together.”
More transmission lines, less fossil energy for the US
Speaking of job creation and domestic energy supply, the new MISO proposal is lying the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, which was touted by its backers as a job-creating machine. That project was also planned for the middle part of the US, although practically none of the benefits would be realized there.
The pipeline stalled during the Obama administration and briefly revived during the Trump administration, before finally biting the dust last year when President Joe Biden revoked a key permit as part of a broad series of executive actions targeting undo some of the environmental damage of the past four years.
Another major fossil energy project in the region, the Dakota Access Pipeline, faces desperate setbacks from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, among others. When last heard of, the project is on hold as the US Army Corps of Engineers resumes its work environmental assessment.
The new set of proposals for MISO transmission lines also contrasts sharply with yet another pipeline proposal in the region, a proposal to carbon from various ethanol plants around the Midwest to warehouses in North Dakota. Opponents are already organizing against the plan, reportedly taking some cues from the Standing Rock tribe
More transmission lines for more renewable energy
Where were we? Oh right, The 18 new transmission line projects are really just Tranche 1 in a meticulously planned series of grid improvements outlined in MISO’s Long-Range Transmission Planning process, which articulates “the shared responsibility that states, utilities, members and MISO have to address the complex challenges that are caused by generating fleet change and extreme weather events that increasingly threaten electrical reliability in the region.”
“These critical projects are needed to start integrating next-generation resources outlined in MISO member and state plans and to increase resilience in the face of severe weather events,” explains MISO.
As for that $10.3 billion price tag for Tranche 1, MISO estimates the benefit-to-cost ratio is at least an impressive 2.2. Benefit metrics include congestion and fuel savings, avoided capital costs of local resource investments, avoided transmission investments, resource adequacy savings, avoided risk of tax abatement and decarbonization.
For those of you keeping score at home, Tranche 2 will also cover the Midwest Subregion, Tranche 3 will focus on MISO South, and Tranche 4 will “address the limitations on power interchange between the MISO Midwest and South Subregions.”
The new climate law has made things a lot easier
As if it was the right time, Democrats in the US Senate announced yesterday: an agreement on the new climate law with the lone holdout on their side of the aisle, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin. The bill still has a long way to go before it reaches President Biden’s desk, and of course Senator Manchin may change his mind, but the bill is finally in effect, at least for now.
With all 50 Democrats behind it, and Vice President Kamala Harris casting the casting vote, at least the climate bill has a better chance of surviving than last week, when Manchin said he wouldn’t back it.
What changed? Who knows? The end result is a big win for MISO and other transmission planners.
Among the renewable energy themes mentioned in an official one-page summary of the bill is this:
“In addition, the agreement requires comprehensive licensing reform legislation to be passed before the end of the fiscal year. Allowing reforms is essential to unlock domestic energy and transmission projects, which will lower costs for consumers and help us meet our long-term emissions targets.”
Interesting! That could provide a lot of leeway for all sorts of different energy projects, but the emphasis on cost savings and emissions targets puts a big thumb on the scale of new renewable energy transmission lines.
follow me on twitter @TinaMCasey.
Image credit: Map of proposed new transmission line projects thanks to MISO.
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