U.S. Midwest grid selects 10 power plant projects for expedited review
By Laila Kearney
NEW YORK, Sept 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Midwest grid operator on Thursday said it selected an initial 10 power plant projects seeking connection to the electrical network for fast-tracked review as part of a new program to swiftly add new supplies as energy demand surges.
Record U.S. electricity consumption brought by artificial intelligence data centers and the electrification of buildings and transportation is pushing the country's grids to the brink of their capacities, leading some operators to expedite new resources.
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO, controls the flow of electricity through transmission lines across 15 U.S. states. The organization also conducts engineering studies in its review of power supplies seeking to link up to the grid.
MISO selected five natural gas power projects, three solar, one wind and one battery for speedy review. The projects total 5.3 gigawatts of installed capacity.
MISO's so-called Expedited Resource Addition Study, or ERAS, program reviews shovel-ready projects in line to connect. The projects selected have in-service dates of between January 2027 and August 2028.
“The first 10 projects cover all three regions of MISO, stretching from Louisiana to Minnesota,” said Jennifer Curran, senior vice president of planning of operations for MISO, which operates the grid covering 15 states in the middle swath of the country.
“ERAS is a critical tool we can use to support reliability as we work toward long-term improvements in the interconnection process and each project must meet rigorous standards to make sure only necessary and feasible proposals move forward,” Curran said.
Nearly 50 projects, totaling 26.5 gigawatts of electricity generating capacity have applied to the program. MISO follows a similar action by the largest U.S. grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to speed up the review process of power projects.
So far, projects that have been selected have been overwhelmingly use natural gas.
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