MISO's MTEP13 Marks a Decade of Planning for Reliable Low-Cost Energy

CARMEL, Ind., Dec. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- MISO's Board of Directors celebrated a milestone today when they unanimously approved MISO's Transmission Expansion Plan 2013 (MTEP13). This, the 10th comprehensive long-term regional plan for MISO's electric grid, is designed to bring billions of dollars in annual benefits, for decades to come, for energy consumers throughout MISO's footprint. Similar to the nine plans before it, MTEP13 was developed through a rigorous 18-month process that included dozens of meetings with stakeholders.

Since 2003, the MISO Transmission Expansion Planning process has approved $17.9 billion of investment to promote system reliability, improve market efficiency, enable public policy mandates and allow the reliable integration of new generation resources. With over $6.2 billion in projects already in-service, MISO has made great progress in achieving these goals.

"We give a special thanks to MISO's Transmission Owners, State Regulators and policymakers, and all of our stakeholders for their participation in and support of our value-based planning process over the past 10 cycles. The projects created by MTEP provide accessible, low-cost electricity for the customers our members serve and create thousands of jobs in the process," said John R. Bear, President and Chief Executive Officer of MISO.

The current MTEP13 provides 317 new projects, representing an incremental $1.48 billion in transmission infrastructure investments in the following three categories:

• 79 Baseline Reliability Projects (BRP) totaling $372 million are required for the grid to continue to meet North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) reliability standards.
• 3 Generator Interconnection Projects (GIP) totaling $15 million allow for reliable connections of new generation to the transmission grid.
• 235 Other Projects totaling $1.1 billion address a wide range of needs, such as support for lower-voltage transmission systems and providing local economic benefits that are not considered Market Efficiency Projects.

Highlights from past MTEPs include:

• MTEP11 included the first Multi-Value Project (MVP) portfolio which will create $15.5 to $49.2 billion in net present value economic benefits over a 20- to 40-year timeframe.
• MTEP06 included the first projects subject to regional transmission cost allocation protocols.
• MTEP03, the first MTEP, provided an estimated $1.84 billion in new transmission investment over the five-year period through 2007.

Bear continued, "This has been an incredibly successful program, with billions of dollars invested to build and maintain a vital part of our nation's infrastructure. We look forward to another 10 years of ensuring energy reliability, creating increased market efficiencies and facilitating public policy objectives to address additional issues and goals identified through our stakeholder processes."

For more information on the MTEP program and the Multi-Value Projects portfolio, see the MTEP and MVP One-Pagers posted on MISO's website. There you will find information on the following topics:

• MTEP13 Overview
• Benefits from Multi-Value Projects

See the MTEP 10-Year Anniversary Infographic here.

About MISO 
MISO ensures reliable operation of, and equal access to high-voltage power lines in 11 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba. MISO manages one of the world's largest energy markets, with $18.4 billion in gross annual market charges.  MISO was approved as the nation's first regional transmission organization in 2001.  The non-profit 501(C)(4) organization is governed by an independent Board of Directors and is headquartered in Carmel, Ind., with operations centers in Carmel and Eagan, Minn. Membership is voluntary.

SOURCE MISO