MISO electricity supply to exceed demand this winter

by Jeff Della Rosa ([email protected]) 616 views 

Carmel, Ind.-based regional transmission organization Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) expects to meet electricity demand this winter amid warmer weather compared to last year, according to a Tuesday (Oct. 31) news release.

MISO manages the grid for 15 U.S. states, including a portion of Arkansas, and the Canadian province of Manitoba. The organization will host its annual Winter Readiness Workshop on Tuesday to provide weather forecasts, transmission, generation and training plans for the upcoming season. The workshop will focus on 2023-2024 winter operations and include lessons learned from last winter.

“The team thoroughly analyzed our supply and demand projections to determine any potential risks associated with the upcoming season,” said Jessica Lucas, executive director – system operations at MISO. “We anticipate having enough resources to manage normal conditions, but there is always the potential for an extreme weather event to strain the grid.”

The weather is expected to be warmer this year, and MISO projects winter demand might exceed 106 gigawatts, with 121 gigawatts of supply available under normal grid and generation outage conditions, according to new seasonal Planning Resource Auction results. The record for winter demand was 109 gigawatts set on Jan. 6, 2017.

“The new resource adequacy construct identifies reserve requirements and generation availability for each season, across the MISO footprint,” Lucas said. “This provides more visibility into reliability risks during a specific season and allows our operations to better manage the resource fleet, especially during tight operating conditions.”

The Tuesday workshop includes information from the annual Generation Winterization Survey, Weekly Fuel Consumables Data Requests and the meteorological assessment and keynote presentation by Robert Gee, a member of the North American Energy Standard Board (NAESB) Advisory Council and who served as chair for the recently completed NAESB Gas-Electric Harmonization Forum Report. Link here for more on the workshop.

On Nov. 13, Little Rock-based regional transmission organization Southwest Power Pool (SPP) will host a meeting to present an assessment of its winter operational outlook. SPP manages the grid for 15 states, including a portion of Arkansas.

Link here for more on the meeting.