Edward Smith, edward.smith@sierraclub.org
Washington, D.C. – A regional electric grid operator that spans 15 central states, MISO, has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to approve its discriminatory energy plan, the Expedited Resource Addition Study (ERAS) process, that would allow utilities to cut in line to advance their preferred projects, and then shift some or all of the costs of connecting those projects onto everyone else. The plan would bring higher costs and further delays to mostly solar, storage, and wind projects in the interconnection queue, while enabling largely gas-burning power plants to connect faster and without paying their fair share. Today a group of public interest organizations filed a protest of MISO’s flawed proposal.
MISO’s preferential treatment for utilities, due to an alleged “emergency” that has not been adequately justified, does not actually require these projects to be built faster. Under MISO’s proposal, projects that jump the line do not need to be completed until as late as 2032, which is no faster than how long MISO currently expects a project could come online via the regular interconnection queue process. To make matters worse, MISO’s proposal to rush projects through could mean the wrong customers end up footing the bill for the costs of connecting them to the grid. MISO has failed to justify how its ERAS proposal would deliver “emergency” generation any faster than simply implementing its recently approved interconnection reforms to address its backlog.
Emergencies happen, and exceptions to rules are required from time to time. However, MISO’s ERAS proposal is not just a one-off that lets certain projects skip the interconnection queue; it’s a nearly four year – quarter-by-quarter – “emergency” proposal that the grid operator has failed to adequately justify.
Groups challenging MISO’s ERAS filing include Clean Wisconsin, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Sustainable FERC Project, and Union of Concerned Scientists. The protest can be found here.
Statement from Greg Wannier, Senior Attorney with the Sierra Club:
“This proposal should ring massive alarm bells with federal regulators because it runs directly contrary to the open access protections that MISO and other grid operators are required to follow and that FERC is required to enforce. Real emergencies should be taken seriously, and when they arise, necessary rule changes should be narrowly tailored to minimize any deviation from open access norms, which is the opposite of what MISO has proposed with ERAS. FERC should reject MISO’s proposal and ask it to come back with a better supported and more targeted solution to its future grid reliability concerns.”
Statement from Ciaran Gallagher, Energy & Air Manager with Clean Wisconsin:
“MISO’s ERAS proposal has almost no guardrails on the rush to gas. This proposal would allow utilities’ preferred projects, likely gas, to jump the line of developers who want to build mostly solar, wind, and storage. There is no oversight on how states will determine reliability needs that merit queue jumping. In my state of Wisconsin, we are seeing a sudden influx of large AI data centers and we don’t have a transparent utility planning process to assess how to meet that energy need in a sustainable, cost-effective way. This proposal would allow state commissioners to fast-track projects without evaluating whether there is a reliability need or to prejudge generation projects without the proper regulatory and public input process that energy customers expect and deserve.”
Statement from Natalie McIntire, Senior Advocate with NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“FERC needs to reject this plan, and send MISO back to the drawing board to develop a proposal that will truly support the rapid development of new generation resources, without leaving consumers on the hook for paying unfair costs.”
Statement from Ada Statler, Senior Associate Attorney with Earthjustice:
“MISO’s proposal would let utilities pick and choose projects to get special access to the transmission grid, and comes at the expense of consumers. FERC should reject this proposal, which will also divert MISO’s limited resources away from implementing the needed reforms that FERC and stakeholders spent years developing in Order No. 2023.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.