MISO board endorses $6.5 billion transmission expansion plan

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Carmel, Ind., November 8, 2011 — The Midwest Independent System Operator’s board of directors endorsed the MISO Transmission Expansion Plan 2011 (MTEP11), a comprehensive long-term regional plan that recommends $6.5 billion in electric grid infrastructure investments that will enable the delivery of least-cost energy to consumers.

MTEP11 recommends 215 new projects, including 16 Multi-Value Projects that provide broad regional benefits commensurate with costs and support state and federal energy policy objectives approved in the MISO region.

The System Planning Committee began reviewing MTEP11 and MVPs in August after MISO and its stakeholders spent more than year analyzing the projects included in the report.

On Oct. 19, MISO staff presented more detailed information on the business case for MVPs at the board’s System Planning Committee and discussed stakeholder feedback on the report, including MVPs.

At that meeting, the committee requested all interested stakeholders to provide additional comments on the MVPs. The committee reviewed and considered those comments along with MISO staff’s responses, before voting to recommend approval of MTEP11, including the MVP portfolio, to the full MISO Board.

MTEP11 now goes before MISO’s full board of directors for consideration at its Dec. 8 meeting. Final board approval would require MISO’s transmission owners to follow due diligence to construct the facilities approved in the plan.

The 2011 MVP Portfolio is estimated to deliver between 1.8 to 3 times more benefits than costs. For the average residential customer that translates to about an investment of about $11 a year in order to receive the annual benefit of $23 in lowered energy costs — a 109-percent return on investment.

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