Critics attack MISO review of Entergy upgrades

OREANDA-NEWS.  Transmission grid improvement proposals that Entergy utilities in Louisiana and Arkansas say need urgent approval face opposition from independent transmission developers.

Competitors argue that a review of six Entergy projects by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) is moving too quickly.

Members of MISO's planning advisory committee were split this week when they voted to endorse Entergy's recently proposed grid upgrades as they advance toward MISO board consideration as early as April, after barely three months of study.

Entergy's Louisiana, Gulf States and Arkansas utilities submitted six projects for MISO review outside the grid's annual transmission planning process which takes about one year.

The utilities said new lines, substations and other facilities with at a price tag of \$214mn are needed to serve 700MW of new industrial load in Louisiana and Arkansas before mid-2018.

MISO's out-of-cycle approval process allows an expedited review if grid improvements are needed for reliability, such as serving new load expected within three years.

Louisiana is undergoing an industrial revival as petrochemical and other companies take advantage of abundant, low-cost US natural gas resources, prompting the need for new generation and transmission.

Entergy officials said exact locations for new load could not be confirmed until late 2014. New customers want service beginning later this year, meaning the projects need review sooner than MISO's annual transmission process. "Knowing the load is coming is one thing; knowing where it is going to show up is different," Entergy said.

Most opposition focused on the most expensive proposal, Entergy Louisiana's \$187mn Lake Charles project.

Upgrades to serve Lake Charles were submitted to MISO just weeks after board members approved more than 360 grid projects with a price tag of \$2.5bn. Among the approved projects were 75 upgrades in MISO's new south region of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. All but one will serve Entergy utilities.

Duke American Transmission vice president George Dawe, who represents the competitive transmission segment on the planning advisory committee, said the Lake Charles upgrades do not meet MISO criteria for expedited review. ?"We do not believe it is a baseline reliability project," Dawe said. "We think the facilities are beyond what is needed to reasonably serve load." ?Dawe said the Lake Charles plan should go through MISO's annual transmission review process so that more information is available on the new load and to allow more stakeholders input.

MISO officials defended the expedited review, saying they do not want the planning process to be a barrier for utilities with an obligation to serve new load.

"If you wait long enough, everything becomes a reliability project," one independent generator said.

Transmission owners and transmission-dependent utilities endorsed the Lake Charles project; transmission developers and independent power producers voted against the project; four market segments abstained from the vote and the power-marketer segment was split.

Dawe said transmission developers opposed the five smaller projects because MISO did not follow its own time line to give parties sufficient notice and time to study the projects.