MISO took a major step forward today in addressing the operational challenges associated with the variable nature of renewable energy resources such as wind power. Beginning today, these renewable energy resources can participate fully in MISO's economic dispatch under a new resource designation: Dispatchable Intermittent Resources (DIR).

"This is great news for renewable energy resources," said Richard Doying, vice president of Operations at MISO. "For years the industry has grappled with how to fully reflect the value of renewable energy in the market and to enable renewable resources to realize the financial benefits of operating flexibly and responding to market dispatch instructions. This will ensure the resources are utilized most efficiently, producing energy where and when needed. All market participants, including those serving load, will benefit from the optimization of wind output as part of MISO's real-time 5-minute market dispatch," he said.

MISO's FERC-approved DIR initiative allows renewable generation to be treated like any other generation resource in the market and, for the first time, participate in the region's real-time energy market. Now wind can automatically be dispatched up to a forecasted limit based on an offer price and system conditions. This enables wind to submit offers and receive dispatch instructions rather than be manually curtailed when transmission constraints limit renewable energy generation to reach the broader market region.

"We have more than 1,000 MW of wind capacity registered as Dispatchable Intermittent Resources," said MISO's Joe Gardner, Executive Director of Real-Time Operations. "Allowing MISO's real-time optimization software to determine an economic dispatch for these resources maximizes their utilization given the price and system conditions while minimizing the need for manual curtailments in real-time. This enhances system wide operational and market efficiency."