OREANDA-NEWS. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) board today approved \$215mn in grid upgrades proposed by Entergy utilities in Louisiana and Arkansas to serve growing shale-driven industrial load, overruling objections from competitive transmission developers and independent generation owners.

Entergy's Louisiana, Gulf States and Arkansas utilities submitted six projects for streamlined MISO review outside the normal year-long transmission planning process, saying the new lines, substations and other facilities are needed to serve 600MW of new industrial load before mid-2018.

The system planning committee of the board recommended approval of the projects on Tuesday.

Opponents focused on the most expensive project, Entergy Louisiana's \$187mn Lake Charles upgrade, which includes 500kV and 230kV lines and new substations.

Upgrades to serve Lake Charles were submitted to MISO a few weeks after board members had approved more than 360 grid projects with a price tag of \$2.5bn last December. All but one of the 75 projects approved in the MISO south region of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas will serve Entergy utilities.

MISO's out-of-cycle approval process allows an expedited review if grid improvements are needed for reliability, such as serving new load expected within three years.

Entergy said the Lake Charles grid enhancements are needed to keep up with an industrial revival of petrochemical and other companies expanding operations to take advantage of abundant, low-cost US natural gas resources, prompting the need for new generation and transmission.

Officials said exact locations for new load could not be confirmed until late 2014 and that some customers want service later this year.

Entergy chief executive Leo Denault said the Lake Charles infrastructure upgrade represents one of the company's largest grid investment ever and is needed to meet load growth of 3pc.

"These industrial facilities are the size of major cities in terms of electric load," Denault said at the IHS CERA Week energy conference in Houston. "At that size, price matters and reliability matters."

Critics challenged whether the projects met MISO criteria for out-of-cycle review and voiced concern that the process did not require verification of the sizable amount of new load Entergy expects in Lake Charles.

"We understand some stakeholders may have desired a longer review process," MISO director of planning Jeff Webb said on 21 April.

MISO officials said Entergy's projects met the grid operator's criteria, that alternate solutions were evaluated and that proper notice was given to all stakeholders as the projects were discussed.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission also urged MISO to advance the projects so that Entergy can submit the projects for commission review.

The out-of-cycle process "is designed to to keep MISO from being a stumbling block" to needed reliability facilities, MISO board chairman Judy Walsh said on 21 April.

But Walsh urged staff to clarify reliability requirements in the streamlined review process to avoid future controversy.