Analysis: MISO to add 4.25 GW of wind, 730 MW of gas capacity by mid-summer: report

Houston — The Midcontinent Independent System Operator has 4,250 MW of wind and 730 MW of natural gas-fired generation under construction scheduled to be online by mid-summer, a Generation Interconnection Queue report generated Wednesday showed, and 28 projects, totaling almost 5 GW, have been withdrawn so far this year.

Of the wind total under construction, 2,032 MW has "Negotiated In Service Dates" in 2019, and when those projects will be brought online remains unclear, but likely by mid-summer or earlier.

Of the remaining wind total under construction, 1,116 MW is to be done by the end of April, while the remainder has negotiated in service dates in June.

Of the gas-fired generation under construction, a 25-MW combustion turbine being built in southern Mississippi's Cooperative Energy service area was originally slated to come online Jun 22, 2019, but no one from that organization responded immediately regarding when that project would achieve commercial operation.

The other gas project is a 705-MW combined-cycle gas turbine being build in St. Joseph County, Indiana, with a negotiated in service date of March 31, 2020.

Not counted in this gas-fired generation construction total is a 994-MW CCGT being built by Entergy in Westlake, Louisiana, which Entergy officials said "has always been expected to be in operation by mid-2020."

Another Entergy project slated for completion this summer is the 50-MW Capital Region Solar project "to be completed in the second quarter of this year," according to Entergy.

WITHDRAWN PROJECTS

Of the almost 5 GW of projects withdrawn through March 11, 1,322 MW had 2020 or earlier in-service dates, almost 2,126 MW was to come online in 2021, 729 MW was to come online in 2022, 125 MW was to come online in 2023 and one 670-MW gas-fired plant had a 2024 in-service date.

Planned wind capacity made up the lion's share of the withdrawn projects, totaling 1,825.6 MW, followed by solar with 1,645.2 MW, gas-fired with 1,476 MW and one battery project with a 25-MW capacity.

MISO has another 24 projects under construction with negotiated in-service dates during the second half of 2020, totaling 4,214 MW of capacity, led by 1,900 MW of wind, followed by 1,280 MW of solar and 924 MW of gas-fired capacity.