Clean Grid Alliance

Transmission.transmission is vital to cga's mission of developing renewables and reducing carbon emissions. Expanding the deployment and integration of cost effective renewables on the grid includes participating in stakeholder processes and advocating for renewable energy at the midcontinent independent system operator (miso regional "grid" operator), stimulating market conditions that support or enhance the use of renewable energy across the miso footprint, and activating our members to strategize and participate in transmission planning, creating new market rules, and addressing operations issues at miso. Significant achievements from the year include: - 1.5 years of advocacy resulted in miso removing storage dispatch in shoulder dpp studies which will enable storage to function as it is intended, by capturing low-cost wind and solar energy and delivering it when prices are high to reduce congestion on the lines. This will help reduce the high network upgrade costs for transmission lines. - miso no longer requires that all storage procure only firm, long-term transmission service to charge. This will allow flexibility for storage to take all types of transmission service and participate in the market as it is intended by charging with abundant low-cost renewables and offering energy when prices are high to reduce congestion on transmission lines. - the long-range transmission plan (lrtp) tranche 2 future 2a includes a very significant amount of renewables. Cga expects the tranche 2 portfolio to be approved by miso in december 2024. - cga worked with doe, miso and spp executives, as well as representatives from advanced power alliance and grid united on a proposal submitted by the minnesota department of commerce to secure a grant for $464 million from the department of energy to partially defray the cost of the joint targeted interconnection queue (jtiq) transmission lines. The five identified jtiq transmission lines are located on the seams between miso and spp and will span seven midwest states unlocking 28 gigawatts of renewable energy. - to facilitate interconnecting projects while network upgrades are in process, miso offered to include affected systems in the annual eris/nris and quarterly operating limit studies. This helps developers whose projects are deemed "conditional" because their transmission lines are not built yet and allows upgrades in spp to be managed in the miso process. Cga helped shape miso's annual eris/nris/qol process, which is predictable and allows developers to have increased ability to inject into the system while their network upgrades are being built in spp.

Regulatory. Cga is an influential stakeholder in state regulatory proceedings across our footprint. Below are some key accomplishments: - cga intervened in the grain belt express transmission line case and testified in support of the line because of its potential to interconnect 5000 mw of wind or solar resources in kansas and delivering that power into miso and pjm. In addition, cga submitted testimony in support of an amendment that would increase the capacity of the missouri converter station from 500 mw to 2500 mw. The missouri psc approved the amendment. - the illinois power authority accepted several of cga's proposed changes to the indexed rec contract that improved its flexibility for 2024 procurements under the ipa's 2024 long term renewable resources procurement plan. The changes allow bidders to optimize the sale of recs from their wind and solar generators, make projects more competitive, lowers potential rec prices for ratepayers, and reduce project risk for the bidder/developer. - intervened jointly in the detroit edison 2022 irp with michigan eibc and advanced energy united. The settlement resulted in an additional 300 mw of ppas with utility-scale renewables and 100 mw of utility-scale renewables that would be transferred to dte by 2027. - the dane county circuit court of wisconsin upheld the state's approval of the cardinal-hickory creek transmission line. Cga intervened in the case and supported the application throughout the appeal, including issues that were before the wisconsin supreme court. Approval of this line improves west-to-east energy flow in miso and prevents a restudy of approximately 7,000 mw of renewable resources. State policy.through state policy work, our strategic objective is to stimulate market conditions that create a demand for renewables and support or enhance the use of emerging technologies through policy initiatives at state legislatures. Below are some key accomplishments: - two 100% clean energy by 2040 bills were passed in minnesota and michigan. - gov. Whitmer signed a statewide permitting and siting process for clean energy projects, which was included in the 100% carbon-free energy production by 2040 bill. - illinois passed a statewide siting bill in january 2023. The bill establishes siting and decommissioning guidelines for wind and solar projects. - gov. Holcomb of indiana signed a bill that establishes a commercial solar- and wind energy-ready communities development center within the office of energy development. - payment in lieu of taxes (pilt) legislation passed in michigan, providing certainty and stability for taxation purposes because the project owner and local units of government will now know how much revenue to expect over the life of the project. - executive director beth soholt gave a presentation to the minnesota puc, which set the stage for convening a key stakeholder group on permitting reform. - planned and hosted wind 101 and solar 101 events in several miso states in coordination with the land & liberty coalition.