Wind on the Wires1 - Smart Grid (R) Evolution: Electric Power Struggles - page 148

with a focus on the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) region, which
includes fifteen states in the Midwest and South.
In this case study we focus on the eleven Upper Midwest states which have been
involved in coordinated transmission planning and wind integration since the mid-2000's.
The Upper Midwest has some of the best wind resources in the world and long-distance
transmission is crucial for developing the resource. With 13,000 MW installed, the Upper
Midwest is similar to Texas in the amount of wind on the system (MISO 2010 ) . All but
one state in MISO's Upper Midwest region have adopted a RPS or a Renewable Goal, and
together, meeting these policy goals will require upwards of 25,000 MW of wind on the
system. While there has been quite a bit of research on state efforts to promote renewable
technology through the state RPS or state renewable goals, deeper exploration of steps
toward implementation such as grid planning and wind integration remains minimal (Bird
et al. 2005 ; Rabe 2004 ; Rabe 2006 ; Rabe 2008 ). This case contributes to this area of
research.
While state legislatures have adopted policies to promote renewables, implementation
of wind and the required transmission expansion has required a new level of regional
coordination and cooperation. Energy federalism in the United States means that state
agencies have jurisdiction over critical energy policy decisions but there are no formal
mechanisms to cooperate with neighboring states or integrate larger system interests into
their decision criteria. Ratemaking and transmission system planning are two areas where
the state-level PUCs have decision-making authority. PUCs use an established set of
decision criteria to evaluate any system change, but some state PUCs are forbidden from
considering benefits that may accrue outside of their state boundaries. The PUCs' criteria
generally include the project's impacts on system reliability and benefit-cost analysis
to evaluate the impact of the changes on rate payers within the PUC's particular state.
These strict decision criteria can impede systemwide, intrastate decision-making and make
transmission planning particularly challenging.
6.5.1 Building Wind Power in the Upper Midwest
Like Texas, the Upper Midwest has strong wind resources and has been home to windmills
for more than 150 years. They were used from the 1870's to the 1930's by farmers
and ranchers to pump water for homes, crops, and livestock, and for some farms. Wind
was also used to produce electricity until the wind pumps were made redundant by the
government-sponsored New Deal rural electrification programs in the 1930's-50's.
Unlike Texas, which could unilaterally adopt to promote wind power, developing wind
power in the Upper Midwest is more politically complex. Individual state policies to