Powerline by John Hinderaker 5/18/2025
At AmericanExperiment.org, Sarah Montalbano reviews the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator’s prospects for providing stable electricity in the summer that is about to begin. MISO runs the electric grid for 15 states in the central United States:
The Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO) is at risk of running low on electricity this summer, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) 2025 summer reliability assessment.
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MISO will see an “elevated” risk of shortfalls this summer, with the retirement of 1,575 MW of natural gas and coal-fired generation since last summer contributing to “less dispatchable generation” in the region. NERC pulls no punches in pointing out that MISO’s grid instability is due to “the decline in dispatchable generation and the increasing share that solar and wind resources have in meeting demand.”
Emphasis added. This is from the NERC report:
The performance of wind and solar generators during periods of high electricity demand is a key factor in determining whether system operators need to employ operating mitigations, such as maximum generation declarations and energy emergencies; MISO has over 31,000 MW of installed wind capacity and 18,245 MW of installed solar capacity; however, the historically based on-peak capacity contribution is 5,616 MW and 9,123 MW, respectively.
Since last summer, over 1,400 MW of thermal generating capacity has been retired in MISO, and the new generation that has been added is predominantly solar (8,080 MW nameplate/4,140 MW on-peak).
More:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/05/the-blackout-summer-of-2025.php
