Inclusion of Wind in the MISO Transmission Expansion Planning Process

The Midwest ISO performs exploratory studies to determine information about the combined generation and transmission system operating the Eastern Interconnection and the Joint and Common Market with PJM. The example in this paper is a simulation of the power system in the year 2016 with 16,000 MW of wind generation added to a MISO and PJM wide 765 kV transmission system. High Surge Impedance Loading design transmission parameters are used to model the 765 kV expansion. Results show that the wind generation would displace about 43 M tons of carbon dioxide from coal, gas and other fuels. The economics amount to roughly a break even proposition if the subsequent benefits could be distributed properly.