MISO can’t predict the future, but it can make educated projections about what the electric system will look like in the coming years. To do that, MISO works with stakeholders to create forecasted scenarios that we call “Futures.”  

What Are They: Futures capture a range of potential system conditions over a 20-year planning horizon. The scenarios establish a bookended range of economic, policy, and technical possibilities, incorporating factors such as load growth, carbon policy, and generation technologies and retirements. These forecasts hedge uncertainty by analyzing state and member plans, policy direction, industry trends, and capacity expansion modeling.   

How Are They Used: Futures provide the foundation for MISO’s regional transmission planning by representing multiple possibilities for future system growth, fuel availability, market conditions,  regulatory environments and resource siting. The scenarios also inform state and member resource planning.  

Each Futures series consists of multiple scenarios. Work to create Series 1 began in 2019.  Because the grid continues to evolve at a rapid pace, it is critical to review and update these series over time.  

• Series 1 Futures (2021) laid the groundwork for LRTP Tranche 1 

• Series 1A Futures (2023) supported LRTP Tranche 2.1 

• Series 2 Futures (2026) focus on impacts of accelerated load growth and will be used as the basis for the next stage of Long Range Transmission Planning.   

Stay up to date on the development of these scenarios visiting the Futures workshops page.