The Midwest ISO Board of Directors approved yesterday the 2010 Midwest ISO Transmission Expansion Plan (MTEP10), which recommends the addition of 231 new projects over the next decade to further increase regional reliability, grid efficiency and enable public policy fulfillment.

In approving the plan, the Board commended the Midwest ISO's transmission owners, regulators and other stakeholders for their active engagement with Midwest ISO in producing MTEP10, which represents a total new investment of more than $1.2 billion in transmission infrastructure within the Midwest ISO footprint through 2020.

"MTEP10 exemplifies how implementation of a value-based planning approach to infrastructure development can maximize value for the region," said John Bear, president and CEO of Midwest ISO. "These recommended projects are tribute to the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders to further our collective goals of increasing reliability, decreasing energy productions cost, decreasing energy losses associated with transmission, addressing energy policy goals, and potentially reducing reserve margin requirements."

MTEP10, the seventh edition of the regional transmission plan, is a culmination of more than 18 months of collaboration and ongoing dialogue between regional stakeholders and the Midwest ISO planning staff. In addition to benefits realized from increased system reliability, a $4 billion subset of projects targeted at reliability and similar needs is projected to provide a potential annual benefit of $825 million from market efficiencies beginning in 2015.

The MTEP 10 planning cycle also includes the Michigan Thumb Loop project approved earlier in the year, a $510 million project intended to address integration of renewable energy for the region and the first regional project expected to fall within Midwest ISO's Multi-Value Project (MVP) cost methodology currently pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The project was reflected in the Midwest ISO's collaborative Regional Generation Outlet Study (RGOS), which identified where to locate wind zones, along with the transmission required to interconnect them, to achieve the lowest delivered cost for this clean, renewable energy resource.

"The Midwest ISO is proud to have an independent, transparent, and inclusive planning process that is well-positioned to study and address transmission needs in the region," said Bear. "The RGOS is a great example of this collaborative process in action. Key wind zones were identified to maximize the integration of renewable energy into the region in an economically efficient manner, minimizing the combined cost of transmission and generation while meeting the varying energy policy goals of states in the Midwest region."