MISO's energy plan sways with the wind (and other renewables)



This week, energy industry leaders attended the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator's (MISO) Annual Stakeholders' Meeting to discuss MISO's Strategic Plan and how to deliver cost-efficient energy.

Renewables – and related technology options – as a solution were a prime focus.

Bryan Hannegan, Vice President, Environment & Renewables, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), proposed the following:

 
  • Employ condition monitoring and reliability-centered maintenance, as well as develop best practices and guidelines for wind turbine component maintenance.
  • Demonstrate lower cost project designs and implementation approaches, and gain field experience and develop guidelines for PV system performance, reliability and economics.
  • Conduct technology pilots and demos of improved trough-based and tower-based CSP systems, and explore new materials and approaches for thermal storage.

"Technology needs a marketplace, a framework in which to flourish," Hannegan said at the MISO meeting. "For renewables to take hold in the marketplace, you need a new playbook. These very fundamentally different technologies bring fundamentally different values to society and we need more collaboration so renewables are a durable part of our energy mix."

MISO is aware of this need and has switched its approach accordingly.

"The generation mix in MISO's footprint can be easily attributed to shifts in energy policies. In the late '90s our entire footprint was coal, but as policymakers turned their attention to renewable energy so did our footprint," said MISO Vice President of Transmission Asset Management Clair Moeller. "Now the industry is shifting once again and we find our members switching to natural gas as an economical and reliable energy source."

For more:
- see the strategic plan

Related Articles:
MISO Look-Ahead Tool could save $2M annually
FERC passes new MISO reliability plan


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