Officials at the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) have issued a region-wide summer evaluation indicating the region has sufficient generation capacity to meet the expected summer peak power demand.

According to the evaluation, MISO will see an estimated peak of 114,479 MW. Available generation capacity is projected to be at 135,054 MW, providing a reserve margin of 18%.

“We are confident that the generators in the Midwest ISO will be able to supply enough capacity to meet peak demand for the coming summer,” said MISO CEO James Torgerson. “Our system review was a comprehensive effort. We evaluated the adequacy of supply and the availability of the generating equipment within the footprint.”

The summer evaluation is an annual review that looks at the expected use of power compared to the amount of generation available to meet the needs of the footprint.

The evaluation considered the following:

MISO considered the MAPP (Mid-Continent Area Power Pool), MAIN (Mid-America Interconnected Network) and ECAR (East Central Area Reliability Coordination Agreement) reliability regions’ summer assessments.

Reserve requirements are put into place as a precaution should power demands reach higher than anticipated levels or equipment is removed from service due to forced outages, MISO noted.

Also last week, PJM Interconnection, another FERC-certified regional transmission organization, said that it expects to have sufficient generating capacity to meet consumers’ forecasted peak usage this summer. PJM’s forecasted 2005 summer peak usage is 131,330 MW, while the grid operator expects to have 165,640 MW of generating capacity on line.

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