Two new energy storage studies are getting underway this summer in the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) footprint: the Energy Storage Study and the Manitoba Hydro Wind Synergy Study. At MISO’s Energy Storage Workshop held on June 29, 2011, MISO explained that its goals are to explore the potential reliability, market, and planning benefits of energy storage technologies and estimate the price inflection point where energy storage provides benefits to MISO markets.
The Energy Storage Study will focus on battery technology, compressed air, and pumped storage. The first phase of the study will be completed in November 2011 and a second phase by the end of June 2012. MISO’s new Energy Storage Technical Review Group will meet for the first time on August 3, 2011, when it will consider the Draft Energy Storage Study Scope. The Manitoba Hydro Wind Synergy Study will focus on Manitoba Hydro’s capabilities as essentially a “super-sized pumped storage plant.”
These studies are the next steps in MISO’s efforts to incorporate long-term storage into its markets. In February 2008, a FERC Order on Ancillary Market Services directed MISO to evaluate operational and procedural adjustments to remove barriers to the comparable treatment of new technologies (Docket No. ER07-1372). In a December 31, 2009 Order, FERC conditionally accepted MISO tariff provisions for Stored Energy Resources (Docket No. ER09-1126), finding that the operating requirements and compensation for Stored Energy Resources would be comparable to other resources providing regulating reserves. Pursuant to the December 31, 2009 Order, MISO also submitted an informational report to FERC on March 1, 2010 describing its efforts to incorporate long-term storage resources into the market. The two energy storage studies starting this summer move these efforts to a formal study phase.