Study Scope

The North Region Targeted Study is an informational study in which MISO evaluates system limitations caused by non-thermal constraints between the high renewable penetration northwestern areas of MISO and load centers in eastern areas of MISO. Findings from this study will be used to inform future transmission planning initiatives and improve existing economic evaluation processes such as the Market Congestion Planning Study (MCPS).

Evaluating non-thermal issues in economic modeling will allow future economic studies to better capture how the market would operate in any potential future system scenario. As MISO’s generation fleet converts from traditional large thermal units to inverter based intermittent and distributed renewables, this process will become increasingly important in maintaining the most efficient and reliable bulk electric system.

Outlook/Next Steps

The MISO generator fleet is projected to change significantly in the coming years, moving away from large thermal units with high inertia to inverter-based technologies. The North Region Targeted Study was a first step in re-evaluating MISO’s standard economic planning processes to ensure that all issues that will be encountered in the future are considered. An iterative process between reliability and economic analyses is required to address system needs due to changing generation fleet.

Study Scope

The objective of this analysis was to determine if a transmission project would offer a better value to MISO’s membership than the current MISO-SPP Settlement Agreement and if a higher transfer capability between the MISO sub-regions would result in increased economic benefits.