US Midcontinent ISO Approves $1.48 billion of Transmission Investment

The US Midcontinent Independent System Operator's board of directors unanimously approved the ISO's 2013 transmission expansion plan, which includes $1.48 billion of investment in 317 new projects.

MISO has put together annual transmission expansion plans, known as MTEPs, since 2003. The MTEP has led to about $6.2 billion of completed projects and about $17.9 billion in total investment since 2003, according to the 2013 MTEP report.

The $1.48 billion of new transmission investment approved by MISO's board on Thursday is in line with the roughly $1.47 billion recommended in last year's MTEP but well below 2011's MTEP, which saw about $6.51 billion in recommended new transmission investment and included MISO's first multi-value project portfolio.

The new projects recommended in the 2013 MTEP include 79 baseline reliability projects needed to meet North American Electric Reliability Corporation reliability standards. The total cost for these projects is about $372 million.

Three of the new recommended projects are generator interconnection projects, with a total estimated cost of about $15 million.

The remaining 235 projects, totaling $1.1 billion of investment, are in the "other" category. That covers projects that do not qualify as market efficiency projects but could provide advantages, such as supporting lower-voltage transmission or providing local economic benefits, according to MISO's MTEP report.

The bulk of the recommended new investment is in MISO West, which accounts for about $927 million of the total, while MISO East accounts for about $334 million and MISO Central accounts for about $224 million, according to the MTEP report. Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa were the states with the most new investment in this year's cycle, according to the report.

source wireworld