The transformation of the electricity sector – shaped by a changing resource mix, more frequent extreme weather events, and increasing electrification – is creating new and shifting needs and increasing the challenges of ensuring sufficient resources during high-risk periods. Market Redefinition develops significant market enhancements and optimizations to ensure continued reliability and value in anticipation of the changing resource mix, more frequent extreme weather events, and increasing electrification.

Formerly called Long Range Transmission Planning, this pillar assesses the region’s future transmission needs and associated cost allocation holistically, including transmission to support utility and state plans for existing and future generation resources. Initiatives include:

Long Range & Interregional Transmission Planning: Local, regional and interregional transmission planning, processes and buildout based on Futures reflective of resource evolution will be standardized to enable policy goals and the future grid with broadly accepted cost allocation methodology. 

Planning Transformation: Processes will be aligned, adaptable and flexible to recognize emerging transmission needs (e.g., grid enhancing technology, fleet evolution, extreme weather). Provides increased alignment with markets and operations, including automated modeling.

Resource Utilization: A resource retirements process is well coordinated with stakeholders and informed by key inputs. New resources are more quickly interconnected to accommodate an increasing number of resources with smaller MW capacity. Attribute requirements are implemented and monitored throughout resource lifecycles to ensure sufficient generation amidst resource evolution. 

MISO’s ability to respond to the Reliability Imperative is enabled through continuous enhancements to the systems, data analytics, and modeling capabilities to help MISO more efficiently integrate future technology and better utilize data. Formerly called Market System Enhancements, this pillar creates flexible, upgradeable and secure systems that integrate advanced technologies to process increasingly complex information and evolve with the industry. 

Initiatives include: 

Market System Enhancements:  The MSE program is transforming the current market to help MISO meet the evolving needs of the future. The program is focused on building and launching new systems with improved performance, security, and architectural modularity, which enhances our ability to deliver new market products more quickly and efficiently.

Technology of the Future: MISO must integrate select transformative technologies to stay secure, reliable, and efficient.

MISO’s system operations role will be challenged by the different types of resources connecting to the grid and the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events that we have experienced in recent years. This pillar focuses on the skills, processes and technologies needed to ensure MISO can effectively manage the grid of the future under increased complexity.   

Initiatives include: 

Operations Preparedness: To be ready for the future, MISO must improve operations capabilities to quickly model and analyze realistic scenarios enabling the development of and modifications to the operating day plans from start to execution.

MISO will work to deploy a modern suite of tools with consistent processes and flow of information through all facets of Operations Planning.

Operations Planning: In the future, it will be more important than ever to leverage information in new ways. Being able to quickly model and analyze realistic planning scenarios will enable the development of and modifications to the operating day plans from start to execution.

Operators will be better prepared to manage increased uncertainty in resource availability with operational planning processes that are centralized and streamlined, and outages that are proactively scheduled leveraging predictive economic impact analysis and power system studies.

Managing Uncertainty and Variability: MISO recognizes the varying capability of resources throughout the year, creating the need to successfully manage the grid through tight margin periods, high ramping periods, changing generation performance, and variability.

To do this, we must improve resource adequacy processes, launch a new market system to enable automation and expansion of market capabilities and optimize a risk management framework that accurately provides risk profiles based on net uncertainty impacts.

Situational Awareness and Critical Communications: MISO must work to increase operator situational awareness, reduce operator burden and ensure reliability standards.

Dynamic views of the state of the system will ensure operators can maintain the appropriate level of situational awareness when managing the system and will reduce operator burden and automate key communication requirements with the appropriate audience-level information, especially during critical events.

Operational Continuity:  Improved tools and updated processes are vital to ensuring that MISO can reliably operate the grid, mitigate risks, and, if necessary, recover quickly in the event of disruptions to toolsets or control centers.