The Upper Midwest can get hot and humid during the summer months, especially in August after a few thunderstorms move through the region.  The escalation of the two is a festering ground for increased power demand, minimal wind generation and of course the mosquitoes.  In this document we will discuss the demand and wind while leaving the mosquito nuisance argument to the local newswires.

Figure 1 | Upper Midwest – Assessing the Heat

The beginning of August was one of those periods where temperatures rose to summertime highs while watching the wind generation shift lower in the Upper Midwest.  This translated into the MISO North region hitting higher inflection points within their respective supply stack, especially during the later afternoon/evening ramp block of hours given the air condition demand was robust into the dinner hours while the wind generation prolife continued to be modest at best.