The Midwest Independent System Operator is associated with the acronym MISO and covers a large area from the Michigan over to the Upper Midwest and down the vertical middle third corridor of the United States that ends in the deep South. Each region carries its own market dynamics as the MISO power grid has been integrated into the energy transition over the years with wind capacity being the first foray, coal retirements being next and in recent years solar capacity coming into play.  Each of these components continue to change the supply stack within each regional footprint, thus putting pressure on the transmission grid.  Over the past year, we have discussed how MISO has entered Phase II of the energy transition, where local curtailments are more common, especially during the midday hours when the combination of wind and solar outpace the power demand.

Figure 1 | MISO Wind and Solar 12x24 Profiles

Figure 1 displays the past four years of wind and solar 12x24 profiles with the former tied to the top pane and the latter sitting in the frame below. The current year takes on the turquoise colored line to which the wind has been all over the board in Q1 and the first month of Q2 (April).  The solar profile tied to 2025 is the impressive one as the year on year peak midday numbers have increased by 5.0 GW within MISO and we have the numbers increasing between now and the heart of summer.......