MISO proposes giving incumbent utilities certain transmission projects in pending $10.4B buildout
MISO’s proposal centers on its LRTP Tranche 1, a set of transmission lines that could support about 53 GW of wind, solar, hybrid and stand-alone battery projects, that is slated to be voted on by the grid operator’s board on July 25. It would also apply to upcoming tranches.
Only about 21% of the estimated value of the proposed LRTP projects are subject to competition, and the MISO proposal may drop that to around 16%, according to Hartman. ”We should be expanding transmission competition eligibility, not contracting it,” he said, adding that R Street, a free-market group, contends that all transmission upgrades above 100 kV be subject to competition.
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- Advocates for competition in the transmission sector see the proposal as part of a pattern of utilities seeking to monopolize those investments. “The MISO proposal would chip away at the eligibility of transmission projects subjected to open competition and erode associated costs savings and innovation,” Devin Hartman, R Street Institute director of energy and environmental policy, said Wednesday in an email.
