MISO

Central United States; Manitoba, Canada interface.

Wholesale design: nodal energy and operating-reserve market with an annual seasonal Planning Resource Auction.

Operator
Midcontinent Independent System Operator
Nominal frequency
60 Hz
Where energy trades

Where does energy trade in MISO?

Energy in MISO trades in 2 layers: Day-Ahead Energy and Operating Reserve Market and Real-Time Energy and Operating Reserve Market. Participation in Real-Time Energy and Operating Reserve Market is mandatory. Scheduling and settlement, where the official sources state them, are in the table below.

Layer Scheduling Settlement
Day-Ahead Energy and Operating Reserve Market hourly locational marginal pricing for energy and zonal market-clearing prices for operating reserves
Real-Time Energy and Operating Reserve Market (mandatory) five-minute real-time locational marginal pricing for energy and market-clearing prices for operating reserves
What a battery can sell

What ancillary services can a battery sell in MISO?

MISO has 6 ancillary-service products, across 4 families — regulation, contingency reserve, ramping reserve and replacement reserve: Ramp Capability Down, Ramp Capability Up, Regulating Reserve, Spinning Reserve, Short-Term Reserve, Supplemental Reserve. Response timing, direction and eligibility for each are in the cards below, as the official sources state them.

Facts below are stated as the official sources state them. A missing line means the source does not state that value — never that the value is zero.

Regulation

  • Regulating Reserve

    Correct short-duration frequency and area-control error deviations through automatic control.

    Activation
    automatic generation control
    Stated response
    MISO characterizes regulation as covering the approximately four-second to five-minute operating horizon; that horizon is not a promise that every award reaches full output in four seconds.
    Trigger / range
    continuous movement within the cleared regulation range
    Typical procurement
    Dynamic or not publicly stated
    Pricing
    capacity and performance/mileage compensation under MISO tariff rules

Contingency reserve

  • Spinning Reserve

    Provide synchronized contingency reserve after a supply or transmission contingency.

    Activation
    MISO contingency-reserve deployment instruction
    Expected within
    10 minutes
    Trigger / range
    online synchronized capability available within ten minutes
    Typical procurement
    Dynamic or not publicly stated
    Pricing
    operating-reserve market-clearing price

  • Short-Term Reserve

    Provide thirty-minute flexibility to manage short-term uncertainty and events outside ten-minute contingency-reserve coverage.

    Activation
    market commitment or MISO instruction
    Expected within
    30 minutes
    Trigger / range
    online or qualified offline capability in the approximately thirty-minute to three-hour operational horizon
    Typical procurement
    Dynamic or not publicly stated
    Pricing
    operating-reserve market-clearing price

Ramping reserve

  • Ramp Capability Down

    Maintain downward ramp capability for anticipated net-load changes and forecast error beyond the immediate dispatch interval.

    Activation
    co-optimized dispatch positioning
    Stated response
    The product addresses the ten-to-thirty-minute operating horizon; requirements and available capability vary by interval.
    Trigger / range
    forward ramp need over approximately ten to thirty minutes
    Typical procurement
    Dynamic or not publicly stated
    Pricing
    market-clearing price reflecting opportunity cost and scarcity under tariff rules

  • Ramp Capability Up

    Maintain upward ramp capability for anticipated net-load changes and forecast error beyond the immediate dispatch interval.

    Activation
    co-optimized dispatch positioning
    Stated response
    The product addresses the ten-to-thirty-minute operating horizon; requirements and available capability vary by interval.
    Trigger / range
    forward ramp need over approximately ten to thirty minutes
    Typical procurement
    Dynamic or not publicly stated
    Pricing
    market-clearing price reflecting opportunity cost and scarcity under tariff rules

Replacement reserve

  • Supplemental Reserve

    Provide additional contingency reserve from qualified online or offline resources.

    Activation
    MISO contingency-reserve deployment instruction
    Expected within
    10 minutes
    Trigger / range
    qualified capability available within ten minutes
    Typical procurement
    Dynamic or not publicly stated
    Pricing
    operating-reserve market-clearing price
Getting paid to exist

Does MISO have a capacity mechanism?

Yes — Planning Resource Auction is a central capacity market.

Planning Resource Auction

The PRA is a residual mechanism after bilateral and self-supply positions; it does not represent all capacity in the MISO footprint.

Unit of obligation
zonal resource credits in MW, seasonally accredited
Auction held in 2025
Yes () — Dated from the publication of the auction results.
Where this comes from

Official sources

Rules

Market explainer

Capacity-mechanism explainer

Correction

Current as of · from the Global Electricity Market Catalogue v1.2.0 (compiled to , CC BY 4.0). Facts belong to the linked official authorities; verify the current rules before design or bidding decisions.

Questions

Common questions about MISO

Who operates MISO?
Midcontinent Independent System Operator operates MISO, covering Central United States and Manitoba, Canada interface.
Was a qualifying capacity event held in MISO in 2025?
Yes. Planning Resource Auction: a qualifying 2025 event is recorded (2025-05-29). Dated from the publication of the auction results.
How is energy traded, priced and settled in MISO?
MISO: nodal energy and operating-reserve market with an annual seasonal Planning Resource Auction.
Nearby markets
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