Our Office: 4100 32nd Ave. S. Fargo, ND 58104

View & Pay Bill | Contact Us | View Outages 

Meet Miso

MISO

We occasionally reference the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) in the pages of this newsletter, because MISO is an important partner in making sure our coop has the reliable, affordable electricity it needs. We thought we’d take a moment to introduce you to MISO and the service it provides to our regional grid.

What is MISO?

MISO is a not-for-profit, member-based organization that oversees electric grid operations in the middle of the country, with a territory that extends from Manitoba, Canada, through 15 U.S. states down to Louisiana. Its grid footprint serves more than 45 million people through 79,000 miles of transmission power line.

MISO

CCEC’s energy provider, Minnkota Power Cooperative, participates in the MISO wholesale energy market to both sell and buy surplus power to and from other utilities. Simply said, when Minnkota needs more power, it can purchase some from its neighbors. If it has extra power, it can sell it to those who need it. MISO makes sure the grid remains balanced between the sales of more than 550 market participants.

MISO also plays a role in helping to plan future regional generation and transmission additions. Although MISO doesn’t own any generation or transmission infrastructure, their team helps guide utilities to ensure that the right amount of energy is being produced to cover the demand of the entire region, and that transmission capacity is adequate to get power where it needs to be.

MISO’s role in balancing the grid

Like an air traffic controller manages the movement of airplanes from different airports, MISO manages the movement of energy from different utilities and generation sources.

If there is a problem on the grid, such as a failure at a power plant or a damaged transmission line, MISO must assess whether electricity supply can still meet demand. They may ask generators to ramp up production or ask utilities to reduce load by using demand response programs or asking the public to conserve. In rare emergency cases, they may call upon utilities to implement controlled temporary outages on noncritical loads. Even if a utility like Minnkota has enough generation to meet the load of its own members, emergencies in other areas of the country could impact MISO’s requests in our region.