Round two of the federal Transmission Siting and Economic Development (TSED) Grant Program is approaching. This fall, GPI is gearing up to support communities with their applications, building on our work with successful applicants in round one. Continue reading »
On July 24, 2024, the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Deployment Office (GDO) announced the project selections for the first round of the Transmission Siting and Economic Development (TSED) grant program, awarding over $350 million to states and communities across the country to support timely and equitable transmission infrastructure siting. Continue reading »
High-voltage electric transmission may not be the most exhilarating component of accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy. However, it’s certainly one of the most important and, unfortunately, one in the most need of new ideas, attitudes, and solutions for how we build it. Continue reading »
The US power grid faces a perfect storm—aging, underfunded infrastructure, extreme weather fueled by climate change, and a changing electricity generation portfolio. Experts warned earlier this year that huge regions of the US could have shortfalls in the power supply during times of high demand, which could lead to rolling blackouts. While blackouts haven’t occurred thus far, the system remains vulnerable to extreme weather events. Continue reading »
The recent approval of a slate of long-range transmission lines in the Midwest moves the US closer to realizing a reliable, resilient grid for a net-zero carbon economy. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) Board of Directors unanimously approved the $10.3 billion grid expansion that will increase grid reliability, lower system costs, and remove barriers to renewable energy projects waiting for grid interconnection. Continue reading »
New electricity market rule changes will help hybrid resource projects advance in the Midcontinent region. The changes provide methods to determine hybrid resources’ capacity value, a vital metric for maintaining the reliability of the region’s electric grid. Since hybrid resources can combine multiple electricity generation technologies and storage devices, they are an important opportunity to increase carbon-free energy in the region. Continue reading »
Over the last year, GPI has convened an informal group of Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) stakeholders to discuss market rule needs for hybrid resources. Through this work we’ve been able to develop and present a set of specific recommendations to MISO to define how hybrid resources will participate in its energy and capacity markets.
Electricity market rules in development by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO, the region’s grid operator) will impact the competitiveness of hybrid resources, a type of electricity resource which can bring more carbon-free energy to the region. Emerging MISO interconnection rules and processes will determine how hybrid resources connect to the grid, which will shape everything from how these resources are designed to how much electricity and other grid services they can provide. Continue reading »
Electricity markets, the federal government, and state governments across the country are working on how to address hybrid resources, which are a combination of multiple generation technologies and/or storage devices that work together to provide energy, capacity, and other grid services. This post focuses on hybrid resources in the MISO (Midcontinent Independent System Operator) market and describes their unique attributes and value to the grid, which can help inform how market rules incorporate them. Continue reading »
In 2007, a bipartisan group of seven governors announced ground-breaking energy and climate agreements that would go on to shape the region’s energy system. Over a decade later, Wisconsin regulators recently approved the capstone transmission project, the last in a set of 17 “multi-value transmission projects” (MVPs) across the region representing $6.5 billion in investment that grew out of those original agreements. The MVP portfolio’s 17 projects will enable over 16 GW of wind generation to come online, delivering 52 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy throughout the MISO footprint through 2031. Put another way, without these lines, over 60 percent of the renewable energy needed to meet the region’s renewables goals through 2031 would have been curtailed. Continue reading »
