Latest news with #MidcontinentIndependentSystemOperator
Axios
4 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Entergy, grid operator promise earlier warnings after Memorial Day weekend outages
New Orleanians could get earlier warnings before the next rolling blackout, according to Entergy and the regional grid operator — a change prompted by the widespread Memorial Day weekend outages. Why it matters: Utilities knew the grid was strained for at least 48 hours but didn't tell the public until the AC went out for about 100,000 customers on a hot holiday weekend. The big picture: The May 25 event was an "extremely rare" transmission emergency, not a capacity issue, said Todd Hillman, senior VP and chief customer officer at Midcontinent Independent System Operator. Speaking to the New Orleans City Council on Tuesday, Hillman likened the agency to air traffic controllers for the power grid. There was enough power elsewhere, he said, but they couldn't get it to metro New Orleans to meet the demand. (MISO's full explanation) To prevent outages spreading throughout the region, MISO told Entergy and Cleco to cut power by specific amounts within 30 minutes. Entergy operators in Jackson, Mississippi, used models to select neighborhoods for the outage. (Timeline from Entergy New Orleans) How it works: New Orleans is in a "pocket" in MISO's system, which makes it more difficult to get power to the area. Think of the transmission lines like bridges accessing an island, Hillman said. When only two of the three bridges are working, traffic is limited. MISO has done transmission line improvements elsewhere in its system, but there's a bottleneck in south Louisiana. Improvement projects are still in the planning phases, MISO reps said Tuesday. Friction point: Industrial customers use 70% of the state's power, according to Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis, who was in council chambers Tuesday for the committee meeting. "I feel that there has been a priority by our utilities in favor of industrial customers at the expense of residential and commercial," Lewis said. "I think we have to have a big conversation about that." Stunning stat: Louisiana's electricity customers experience more than 12 times as many hours of power outages than the national average, writes Axios' Chelsea Brasted. What we're watching: New Orleans is working on ways to make itself more sustainable during power outages. It has the Community Lighthouse project, and the council is looking at microgrids and virtual power plants. These would use a network of solar panels and battery storage systems to serve as a backup to the grid if it goes down or there's a strain. Go deeper. Council President JP Morrell tells Axios he expects the council to make a decision this year about the virtual power plants. Zoom out: More communication has been an ongoing theme in recent council meetings. Members want to get information to the public sooner, especially through the NOLA Ready text system. Examples: The jail outbreak and neutral ground parking. What's next: The Louisiana Public Service Commission will hear from MISO and Entergy Louisiana at its June 18 meeting about the power outages and the transmission situation. Go deeper
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Arevon secures $98m tax equity commitment for Indiana solar projects
American energy developer, owner and operator Arevon Energy has secured a $98m tax equity commitment from Fifth Third Bank to support the development of its Ratts 1 and Heirloom solar projects in Pike County, Indiana, US. These projects, currently under construction, will collectively add 265MW of new energy for Indiana and are part of Arevon's expansion in the Midwest/Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) territories. The 192MWdc Ratts 1 Solar has secured a long-term power purchase agreement with the Indiana Municipal Power Agency, while Meta will be the offtaker for 73MWdc Heirloom Solar. Both projects are expected to commence operations in the second half of 2025. The partnership with Fifth Third Bank leverages the Inflation Reduction Act's tax credit transfer provision, offering Arevon enhanced capital structure flexibility. Fifth Third Bank Head of Renewables Jon Stark stated: 'Supporting premier platforms like Arevon squarely fits our future growth, and we look forward to continuing to grow our relationship with Arevon as they continue to execute on their high-quality US renewables pipeline.' The Ratts 1 and Heirloom Solar projects represent a nearly $400m investment and are projected to contribute more than $86m to local governments, benefiting public services and infrastructure. The construction has created 200 full-time jobs and boosted local businesses. Arevon chief investment officer Denise Tait stated: 'The complex and highly successful structure of this transaction marks another notable financial accomplishment for Arevon. This is a great example of what happens when all the right pieces come together. 'We were proud to work with Fifth Third Bank and our other financing partners on all we have achieved across our projects' financing packages. The Arevon team's deep expertise and experience will enable us to continue to innovate on future financial transactions.' Advisory and legal firms Paragon Energy Capital, Latham & Watkins, and Norton Rose Fulbright played key roles in closing the latest tax equity commitment. In September 2024, Arevon announced a separate $299m financial close for these projects, marking its first uncommitted tax equity and tax credit transfer bridge loan transaction. Arevon continues to grow its portfolio in the US Midwest. Notable developments include the commencement of the Posey and Gibson solar projects in Indiana and the advancement of the 430MW Kelso Solar Project in Missouri. Arevon has secured more than $3.8bn in cumulative project financing for new solar and energy storage developments throughout the US. "Arevon secures $98m tax equity commitment for Indiana solar projects" was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Massive Louisiana power outage affects thousands and disrupts Memorial Day weekend
A sudden power outage disrupted Memorial Day weekend across southeast Louisiana on 25 May, Sunday, leaving more than 100,000 residents without electricity at its peak. The blackout began around 4:30 pm and affected neighborhoods from Uptown and Mid-City to Lakeview, Metairie, and Terrytown, as well as parts of Jefferson, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard parishes. The outage was triggered by a 'load shed' order from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), the regional authority overseeing grid reliability. Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans were instructed to initiate controlled, periodic power cuts to prevent a more extensive and prolonged failure of the electrical grid. 'It's just a really bad time for anyone to be without power,' said Lottie Summers, a New Orleans resident. 'It's suffering like we live in houses that are not insulated. We really need air conditioning to survive as a society, especially in New Orleans.' Also Read: Memorial Day 2025 The blackout also disrupted the 50th annual New Orleans Greek Festival in Gentilly. As hundreds gathered to celebrate, the power went out for nearly three hours, halting food preparation and silencing music. 'The electricity went out and we were unable to cook some of the food or provide air conditioning, but it's put a damper on things,' said festival organizer Alexandra Megilligan. Live Events Response from the community In response to the heat and lack of air conditioning, local business Toup's Meatery opened its doors to provide a cool space for those affected. 'We don't want anyone in our community to be suffering in any way, and that's kind of what New Orleans is all about, everyone helps each other,' Summers added. City officials expressed frustration over the lack of timely communication regarding the outage. 'Tonight, the regional transmission organization, MISO, ordered an immediate, forced, large-scale outage within the Entergy territory, leaving the utility with minimal notice,' stated City Council President JP Morrell, Council Vice President Helena Moreno, and Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis. 'The public deserves clear answers regarding the reasons behind this incident and the failure to provide timely alerts.' Entergy, a major energy company, reported on Sunday that the load-shedding order had been lifted and power was being restored. Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How fast-tracking fossil gas could snarl the Midwest grid
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways A battle is brewing over who gets to plug into the Midwest's power grid first. Utilities and state regulators are backing a plan that would fast-track certain new fossil-gas power plants while leaving hundreds of gigawatts of competitively bid solar, wind, and battery projects mired in the boglike interconnection queue. They argue it's an important emergency measure to prevent the risk of major outages on what is the U.S.'s largest transmission grid. But opponents say letting these gas plants cut in line would worsen grid bottlenecks and undermine cheaper and cleaner energy while failing to protect the grid. They're asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject the proposal, dubbed the Expedited Resource Addition Study (ERAS), which was filed by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator in March and is now under FERC review. ERAS would allow utilities regulated at the state level to obtain a grid connection in 90 days for 'shovel-ready' and 'dispatchable' power plants. It would not extend that same option to third-party developers, raising concerns that the ERAS proposal would undermine energy market competition in the MISO region, which covers about 45 million people spread across 15 U.S. states from Louisiana to North Dakota. That 90-day pathway is a much faster timeline for grid connection than the average wait time of 3.5 years for projects stuck in MISO's grid interconnection queue. These projects, most of which are clean-energy installations proposed by independent energy developers, total over 300 gigawatts. MISO isn't the only one exploring emergency measures to solve a mounting grid interconnection problem. Grid operators across the country are struggling to add enough new generation capacity to replace closing coal plants, meet fast-growing demand for electricity, and protect customers from losing power during winter cold snaps and summer heat waves. But MISO's challenges may be even greater than those of other regions, according to data it has collected and shared with the North American Electric Reliability Corp., which oversees the nation's electric system. MISO was the only grid region in North America to rank as 'high-risk' in NERC's latest reliability assessment, published in December. Facing such acute risk, MISO has proposed ERAS as an 'urgently needed but temporary stop-gap to address near term resource adequacy and reliability needs,' Andrew Witmeier, MISO's director of resource utilization, said in testimony filed with FERC in March. Major utilities and most state regulators across the MISO region support the grid operator's plan. Entergy, which operates utilities in MISO's southern region, wrote in comments to FERC that the 'ERAS process is needed to solve an immediate and critical problem in MISO's existing interconnection process: its current interconnection queue backlogs unreasonably impede the ability of new generation to come online and serve growing customer needs.' But critics ranging from clean energy groups and environmental advocates to eight former FERC commissioners say the ERAS proposal is shot through with flaws, both in its emergency framing and its proposed solution. Setting up the separate fast-track process proposed in ERAS could 'cause significant and lasting damage, injecting massive disruption to MISO's already overburdened queue process,' Carrie Zalewski, vice president of markets and transmission for the American Clean Power Association trade group, said in an April statement. At the same time, new solar, wind, and battery resources are being interconnected at a faster pace than before — largely due to improvements MISO has instituted over the past few years. Keeping up that good work is the best way to solve MISO's long-term problems, said Greg Wannier, senior attorney with the Sierra Club Environmental Law Program. 'MISO has been talking for years about this emergency,' he said. 'But when you look at the amount of new generation waiting in the interconnection queue to join up, and the projected accreditation value of those resources, the emergency doesn't match up at all.' Checking in on the 'emergency' A report from consultancy The Brattle Group, conducted on behalf of energy developer NextEra Energy, supports that perspective, finding that MISO's grid-emergency concerns are 'overstated for two primary reasons': outdated load forecasts and a limited scope of potential new resources in MISO's calculations. Part of the problem is that MISO is using old data to inform its calculations, said Michael Hagerty, a principal at Brattle. That out-of-date information comes from a survey run by MISO and the Organization of MISO States (OMS), an organization representing state utility regulators. The latest MISO-OMS survey was completed in June 2024 — and since then, a lot of new data has come in that ought to be considered, Hagerty said. 'It's not necessarily a fault of their process' that newer data hasn't come into MISO's plan, he said. 'But it's an implication of how quickly things are charging.' One big change has to do with MISO's load forecasts, which predict how much more electricity customers will need in future years, Hagerty said. As with much of the country, MISO's load forecasts ballooned in recent years in response to a surge in data-center expansion plans — but now those forecasts are deflating as industry analysts get a better handle on which data centers will actually be built and where. 'Grid operators, MISO included, have become more sophisticated in their projection of data center load growth,' Hagerty said. In December, MISO provided an update to its load-growth data showing a reduction in data center growth expectations, 'as it's become apparent that data centers are seeking multiple places and might not develop them all.' But MISO's ERAS proposal continues to rely on its earlier, higher forecasts, Hagerty said. The Data Center Coalition, a trade group representing a wide range of tech companies and data center developers, filed comments in April in support of the ERAS proposal, calling it 'an additional tool that MISO can leverage to accommodate new large loads interconnecting in a timely manner.' Furthermore, in October FERC approved MISO's new 'capacity accreditation' method for determining the value that different forms of energy provide to the grid. While the methodologies in question are complicated in the extreme, Hagerty highlighted a few important high-level changes. First, MISO reduced the value of thermal generators — gas, coal, and nuclear power plants — largely to reflect their risk of failing to perform during extreme weather events, particularly intense cold. Second, it increased the value of solar, wind, and batteries through the application of a new methodology called direct loss of load. MISO's June 2024 survey data didn't incorporate these new values. But Brattle's analysis did and found that the increasing amounts of solar, wind, and batteries awaiting interconnection to MISO's grid have greater value than what the ERAS proposal reflects. The June 2024 MISO-OMS survey also 'relied on historical rates of things coming online,' Hagerty said, including data from 2020 to 2022 — a period that encompasses the Covid pandemic shutdowns and supply chain disruptions. Brattle took a more up-to-date view of how much proposed solar, wind, and batteries MISO can expect to successfully interconnect in the coming years, he said. That pushed up its expectations for successful generator interconnection agreements, which move projects from the waiting line to the next step of getting connected to the grid. Hagerty's team also forecast that MISO could expand on its already successful application of 'surplus interconnection service,' which allows companies to add new resources to an existing project with spare grid space, such as tacking battery storage onto a solar farm. Another bucket of new resources can come from generation replacement service, which uses the grid interconnections of shuttering power plants to connect new resources. Xcel Energy, a Minnesota utility within MISO, has taken advantage of this process, building a large solar-plus-storage project near the site of a retiring coal power plant. Taken together, these opportunities add up to more than enough new grid capacity to meet the new power demand MISO forecasts into the end of the decade, according to Brattle's report. 'Significant new resources will in fact be necessary,' Hagerty said. 'Thankfully there are a lot of resources that can be developed and are being developed through existing interconnection processes that can serve' MISO's future needs. Why ERAS could make things worse Not only is the ERAS proposal unnecessary, Hagerty said, but it won't help MISO achieve its goals. In fact, it's likely to make things worse. That's because the proposal ignores a key lever for reducing interconnection logjams: Making better use of existing grid capacity. Grid capacity is scarce in the U.S. Regulators and grid operators are pushing to fix that by building more transmission lines, and MISO specifically is undertaking one of the country's most ambitious transmission buildouts. But new transmission can take up to a decade to build, meaning that for now grid operators and utilities have to make better use of their existing grid capacity. MISO is also improving its interconnection processes. For example, MISO has been using software tools to streamline complex grid studies — an innovation that has won accolades from FERC. That can help bring more projects online faster within existing capacity limits. But MISO's ERAS proposal lacks requirements to coordinate the selection of fast-tracked power plants with an analysis of where the MISO grid has extra 'headroom' to accommodate them. That creates the risk that ERAS projects will be able to move ahead even if MISO later determines that they will cause even more grid congestion on an already congested system. That, in turn, could force MISO to reject grid interconnection requests from projects that have been patiently waiting for years for a shot at being considered — or force them to absorb multi-million-dollar grid-upgrade costs to get online. That 'poses a significant risk of imposing higher interconnection costs and slower interconnection timelines on MISO's existing interconnection customers,' Sierra Club and other environmental groups said in a protest filed with FERC. Nor does ERAS force projects to be built quickly enough to solve the grid problems it was ostensibly designed to solve, Sierra Club's Wannier said. While the plan does set a three-year deadline to connect to the grid, it also allows utilities to seek a further three-year extension, which means they might not start generating power before 2031 — years after MISO's stated end-of-decade reliability concerns. And even if utilities wanted to build these power plants ASAP, it's not clear they would be able to. Recent reports indicate that manufacturers of power-plant gas turbines, such as GE Vernova, Siemens, and Mitsubishi, are fully booked through the end of the decade, with no excess production capacity available. In the meantime, those ERAS projects would be clogging up grid capacity that other resources could use, including solar, wind, and batteries, which can be built much faster. That could turn ERAS into a 'second, unmanageable queue that would paralyze the MISO interconnection process,' clean energy developers including Clearway Energy Group, EDF Renewables, Enel Green Power North America, and NextEra stated in a protest filed with FERC. Similar concerns are dogging other proposals to fast-track gas-fired power plants to solve grid challenges in PJM Interconnection, which manages the transmission grid and energy markets for a region including all or part of 13 states and Washington, D.C. But critics of MISO's ERAS proposal say that it's even more problematic than the PJM proposal, which FERC approved in February. That's because PJM's fast-track regime, dubbed its Reliability Resource Initiative, is a 'one-time deal,' Wannier said, allowing up to 50 projects to seek expedited interconnection in a single window of applications. MISO's ERAS, by contrast, will allow utilities to propose new power plants for the fast-track process four times per year for the next three and a half years, and could be extended past that deadline, he said. 'MISO has limited staff time and engineering capabilities,' he said. 'The more time they commit to the ERAS process, the more time the rest of the projects in the queue will be delayed.' State regulators must approve any ERAS proposal, which could help prevent crowding the queue with projects that are unlikely to be built in the near term. But as Wannier pointed out, regulators will face pressure to back proposals that let utilities off the hook for the costs of upgrading the grid to support the power plants they're planning. While such lenience could reduce the costs that are passed through to utility customers, that dynamic may clog queues and raise power costs across MISO at large. 'The way that MISO has structured it, utilities are set up to be free riders on the transmission system — which creates an incentive for utilities to put as many projects as they can into this ERAS process,' Wannier said. Breaking the competitive compact MISO spokesperson Brandon Morris said that the ERAS process was developed 'collaboratively with state regulators in the MISO footprint' to meet the 'urgent need to move projects through the interconnection queue, including projects needed due to accelerating load growth driven by data centers.' 'We're focused on completing these projects as quickly as possible while continuing to make improvements to interconnection queue processes,' Morris said. But Morris declined to comment on concerns that eight former FERC commissioners — both Democrats and Republicans — raised in an April letter to the federal agency. They wrote that the ERAS plan 'runs counter to everything FERC has tried to do to preserve open access since the Commission's landmark issuance of Order No. 888.' Order No. 888 refers to rules FERC created in 1996, which require traditional utilities that own and operate their own power plants and serve customers in their territories to allow non-utility parties to connect new grid resources. That rule was necessary because regulated utilities earn a guaranteed profit on every dollar they spend building new power plants, and thus have a built-in incentive to fight third-party power plants that compete with them. This incentive lies at the heart of many of the conflicts between state-regulated utilities and independent energy project developers — and it's at the center of the ERAS debate as well. The former FERC commissioners warned that ERAS' preferential treatment for utility power-plant proposals will 'undermine competition in MISO leading to higher costs for customers,' by erecting 'unduly discriminatory barriers' against projects that aren't sponsored by utilities. While it's theoretically possible for third-party developers to propose ERAS projects, the reality of the situation is Kafkaesque. Developers need to secure customers for their power before getting approval to interconnect. But every independent power project needs an interconnection agreement before it can close power deals, making that option 'unworkable,' the former commissioners wrote. 'It has been nearly 30 years since FERC first planted the flag of open access when the Commission issued Order No. 888,' the commissioners wrote. 'We have come too far to reverse course now.'
Telegraph
02-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
The United States is at risk of a Spanish-style electricity meltdown
Spain declared a state of emergency earlier this week after the country's electricity supply went down, due to cascading failures blamed on possible faults in two solar plants in the country's southwest region. Americans should not be complacent, however. The same could happen in the United States, too. Spain has been ramping up solar power for years, and set a record of meeting nearly 80 per cent of demand on April 21. On April 28, the day of the meltdown, solar provided 59 per cent of electricity, wind about 12 per cent, and nuclear and gas approximately 22 per cent. But providing reliable electricity to people with intermittent renewables, such as wind and solar, is more difficult than with baseload power, such as coal, natural gas, and nuclear power. In a 2024 report, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a nonprofit international regulatory authority, warned of high and elevated risks of shortages for much of the United States from 2025 to 2029. According to the report, electricity supplies are likely to be inadequate as coal and some gas-fired generators face retirement and energy demand surges due to data centre and artificial intelligence technology. The NERC authors stated: 'The trends point to critical reliability challenges facing the industry: satisfying escalating energy growth, managing generator retirements, and accelerating resource and transmission development.' The Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which provides electricity for 15 states from Louisiana to Wisconsin, as well as the Canadian province of Manitoba, is at high risk of suffering a shortage of electricity in the high demand months of summer and winter, for instance. Subsidies for wind and solar, signed into law in 2022 by Joe Biden in the Inflation Reduction Act, are at the heart of the problem. The wind and the sun are effectively free sources of energy, but they don't blow and shine continuously. Continuous, dense power from gas, coal, and nuclear is needed as a backup for renewables. But since these do not get subsidies, there is less incentive for companies to invest in them. The Solar Energy Industries Association states that solar energy represents 'energy dominance'. It argues that the tax credit for solar is 'one of the most important federal policy mechanisms to support the growth of solar energy in the United States' and has provided 'critical stability for businesses and investors'. After their electricity meltdown, Spaniards may beg to differ. In the United States, oil, gas, and coal have no tax breaks in the Inflation Reduction Act, and these forms of energy are currently vital to keep solar and wind in operation. The danger of potential blackouts is the reason that Donald Trump declared an energy emergency on his first day in office. He is taking several steps to avert the disaster forecast in the NERC report. These steps could also be emulated by the UK and the EU if they wanted to ensure a reliable grid. They don't seem keen to follow suit, however. Coincidentally, or not, following the Spanish meltdown, a new report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change was published stating that 'any strategy based on either 'phasing out' fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail'. But despite the chaos on the Iberian peninsula, the Institute's sensible recommendations were evidently deemed unpopular by Labour Party leadership. President Trump, meanwhile, has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to end its Biden-era rules that would have required coal-fired and new natural gas-fired power plants to close if they could not eliminate 90 per cent of the CO2 emissions. He has also requested Congress to get rid of the billions in subsidies for renewables and other clean energy credits in the Inflation Reduction Act scheduled for the next decade. The combination of ending the subsidies for renewables and keeping open existing power plants should avert the blackouts forecast in the NERC report. President Trump is going further by accelerating development of fossil fuel projects. He has reopened Alaska to oil development, and is fast-tracking permitting for fossil fuel projects, so approvals come in 28 days or fewer. He has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider the finding that greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane are pollutants. He has ordered the United States to withdraw from the Paris Agreement and other associated UN agreements, a process that takes a year. The real winner from renewable energy use is China, which dominates wind and solar manufacturing. China makes around 75 per cent of the world's batteries, used in electric vehicles and to back up solar arrays. The tariffs that President Trump is placing on China, as well as removal of the tax credits, should tilt American energy policy in a more resilient direction. The stability and reliability of the power grid cannot depend on subsidised renewables. It is crucial to maintain continuous, dense power from coal, natural gas, or nuclear energy to ensure a dependable electricity supply. The steps taken by President Trump to avert blackouts by promoting fossil fuel development and reconsidering emissions rules reflect a necessary response to the challenges highlighted in the NERC report. The Spanish disaster proves it.
