Transmission Ownership & Support

Transmission Ownership

Wholesale power, whatever its cost, has no value if you cannot bring it to where it is needed. So, as construction of new power pathways continues to grow in the Upper Midwest, so has CMPAS’s involvement in those buildouts.

CMPAS has pursued transmission ownership and our utilities are experiencing the financial benefits – and will continue to reap those benefits for years to come. CMPAS owns a 3.9 % stake in the CAPX Brookings/Grid North project – the 250-mile, 345 kv line that runs from Brookings County, ND to Hampton, MN.

Short-term Purchases & Sales

CMPAS’s energy planning and procurement objective is to balance short-term opportunities with long-term cost stability for our members. In effort to meet this objective, CMPAS perpetually monitors the energy markets for opportunistic power supply purchases. These short-term, supplemental purchases can stack on top of the power that utilities self-supply or acquire through CMPAS-sponsored projects to fill their entire portfolio needs.

When meeting a utility’s needs from the market, CMPAS conducts a great deal of both short and long-term research on how to manage volatility, particularly with natural gas prices. CMPAS also analyzes how the market may change with increasing amounts of wind and solar resources.

Market Analysis / Scheduling / Procurement

Operating efficiently in the MISO & SPP markets allows CMPAS to pass along better bottom-line results to public power utilities. As a market participant and load serving entity, CMPAS interfaces with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and Southwest Power Pool (SPP) markets every day, gaining real-time knowledge of market conditions to favorably position utilities to manage market risk.

CMPAS stays up to date with the highly mechanized, centrally administered regional transmission organization (RTO) marketplaces that are governed by thousands of pages of complex rules. Based on historical and daily knowledge of the power markets, the CMPAS team offers utilities valuable analyses and recommendations to manage risk and maximize a utility’s resources.

As MISO manages power flows and pricing on the transmission grid, the CMPAS team interfaces with MISO as the designated Market Participant and Load Serving Entity. In this capacity, CMPAS schedules energy and manages power supply contracts for members and affiliates in the day-ahead and real-time markets.

Transmission Support

CMPAS can arrange for power delivery in the MISO footprint by submitting transmission service requests for network transmission or point to point service. As a registered Midcontinent Independent System Operator Transmission Owner (MISO TO)

CMPAS also provides the following transmission support services to our member utilities:

  • Regional transmission organization (RTO) technical support
  • Transmission tariff filings for locally owned and CMPAS-sponsored transmission assets
  • Financial analysis to optimize generation assets and contracts
  • Financial accounting and time tracking recommendations
  • Legal support
  • RTO meeting attendance

Market Analysis / Scheduling / Procurement

Operating efficiently in the MISO & SPP markets allows CMPAS to pass along better bottom-line results to public power utilities. As a market participant and load serving entity, CMPAS interfaces with the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and Southwest Power Pool (SPP) markets every day, gaining real-time knowledge of market conditions to favorably position utilities to manage market risk.

CMPAS stays up to date with the highly mechanized, centrally administered regional transmission organization (RTO) marketplaces that are governed by thousands of pages of complex rules. Based on historical and daily knowledge of the power markets, the CMPAS team offers utilities valuable analyses and recommendations to manage risk and maximize a utility’s resources.

As MISO manages power flows and pricing on the transmission grid, the CMPAS team interfaces with MISO as the designated Market Participant and Load Serving Entity. In this capacity, CMPAS schedules energy and manages power supply contracts for members and affiliates in the day-ahead and real-time markets.

Transmission Support

CMPAS can arrange for power delivery in the MISO footprint by submitting transmission service requests for network transmission or point to point service. As a registered Midcontinent Independent System Operator Transmission Owner (MISO TO)

CMPAS also provides the following transmission support services to our member utilities:

  • Regional transmission organization (RTO) technical support
  • Transmission tariff filings for locally owned and CMPAS-sponsored transmission assets
  • Financial analysis to optimize generation assets and contracts
  • Financial accounting and time tracking recommendations
  • Legal support
  • RTO meeting attendance