Transmission

MISO board approves $3.3 billion in transmission projects

by  • 

S&P Global Platts
Author Mark Watson
Houston — To cope with an increasingly diversified, decentralized generation fleet, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator board on Thursday approved $3.3 billion in transmission enhancement projects, including two interregional projects with PJM Interconnection.

MISO Transmission Expansion Plan 18 comprised 442 new projects, and the 10 largest include five in the MISO South region of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas and five in the North and Central regions, which includes all or parts of …

Generation

Fearing outages, Texas regulators consider controversial plan to boost power generation

by  • 

Texas Tribune
BY KIAH COLLIER
The Public Utility Commission is considering measures to ensure Texans don’t lose power in the hot summer months. A plan generators are pushing would cost $4 billion — and lead to higher electric bills.

The warnings from the operator of Texas’ electric grid came several times: The amount of power the state’s generators were slated to produce last summer might not meet escalating demand, resulting in rolling blackouts and bloated utility bills.

That didn’t happen, despite record-setting power demand. And it’s not expected to happen next summer either.

But the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is already warning that the so-called …