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U.S. Midwest Grid selects 10 projects for expedited review

On Thursday, the U.S. Midwest Grid Operator announced that it had selected 10 initial power plant projects to be fast tracked for review. This is part of a program to quickly add new resources as demand for energy surges. The record U.S. consumption of electricity due to artificial intelligence data centres and the electrification and buildings and transportation in the United States is pushing grids to their limits, which has led some operators to accelerate new resources. MISO is the Midcontinent Independent System Operator that controls electricity flow through transmission lines in 15 U.S. States. In addition to conducting engineering studies, the organization reviews power sources that want to connect to the grid.

MISO has selected five projects for rapid review. Three are solar, one is wind, and one is battery. The total installed capacity of the projects is 5.3 gigawatts.

The MISO program called Expedited Resource Addition Study (ERAS) reviews projects that are ready to be connected. The selected projects have an in-service date between January 2027 to August 2028.

The first 10 projects span all three MISO regions, from Louisiana to Minnesota, said Jennifer Curran. MISO operates the grid that covers 15 states across the middle of the United States.

Curran stated that "ERAS can be a valuable tool to help us improve reliability in our efforts to achieve long-term improvements to the interconnection process. Each project must also meet strict standards to ensure only feasible and necessary proposals are approved."

Nearly 50 projects totaling 26.5 gigawatts in electricity generation capacity applied for the program. MISO has taken a similar step to the one taken by PJM Interconnection - the largest grid operator in the United States - to accelerate the review of power projects. The projects selected so far have overwhelmingly used natural gas. (Reporting and editing by Nick Zieminski.)

(source: Reuters)