Cheap power and a real build pipeline across Ohio, Indiana, Chicago and Iowa, with the ERAS fast-track easing a deep connection queue. Getting connected is the main hurdle; low cost and steady demand are the strengths.
See live grid data →Why: FERC's 18 June 2026 Section 206 show-cause order pushes MISO to set clear large-load connection and cost-allocation rules, reinforcing reforms MISO was already developing for fast-growing Midwest data-centre demand.
What would change the read: MISO's Section 206 response becoming a durable, open large-load connection process rather than case-by-case treatment.
Constrained access (deep queue), eased by the ERAS fast-track for priority projects.
Moderate availability across a large footprint.
Cheap power.
High momentum: a growing Midwest build (Ohio, Iowa).
Carbon moderate-high (~330 g).
Exposed in Winter Storm Uri (Feb 2021), with rolling blackouts in the MISO South region during the extreme cold.
What this means: A large new load faces occasional exposure here. Monitor conditions and keep a contingency plan.
event-based · FERC/NERC Feb 2021 cold weather final report
Average customer interruption (SAIDI) of 119.9 minutes per year in 2024, excluding major event days as filed.
The market figure above is an average across these territories. A project sits in one of them, not in the average. Each row is that operator’s own filed record; once a candidate site is matched to a territory, that row is the evidence that applies to it.
| Territory operator | SAIDI min/yr | Customers | Major-event method |
|---|---|---|---|
| DTE Electric Company (MI) | 159.17 | 2,261,010 | IEEE 1366 |
| Consumers Energy Co - (MI) (MI) | 154.97 | 1,889,301 | IEEE 1366 |
| Northern States Power Co - Minnesota (MN) | 110.39 | 1,361,168 | IEEE 1366 |
| Union Electric Co - (MO) (MO) | 94.0 | 1,283,126 | IEEE 1366 |
| Ameren Illinois Company (IL) | 120.6 | 1,249,900 | IEEE 1366 |
| Wisconsin Electric Power Co (WI) | 109.0 | 1,212,936 | IEEE 1366 |
| Duke Energy Indiana, LLC (IN) | 112.89 | 910,102 | IEEE 1366 |
| MidAmerican Energy Co (IA) | 88.0 | 740,347 | IEEE 1366 |
| AES Indiana (IN) | 87.3 | 525,000 | IEEE 1366 |
| Wisconsin Power & Light Co (WI) | 67.52 | 501,445 | own method |
| Interstate Power and Light Co (IA) | 99.35 | 499,530 | own method |
| Northern Indiana Pub Serv Co (IN) | 169.0 | 485,189 | IEEE 1366 |
| Wisconsin Public Service Corp (WI) | 95.0 | 469,161 | IEEE 1366 |
| Northern States Power Co (WI) | 122.37 | 260,234 | IEEE 1366 |
| Madison Gas & Electric Co (WI) | 41.61 | 166,686 | IEEE 1366 |
| Southern Indiana Gas & Elec Co (IN) | 81.2 | 155,822 | own method |
| ALLETE, Inc. (MN) | 119.9 | 138,546 | IEEE 1366 |
| Northern States Power Co - Minnesota (SD) | 63.63 | 104,471 | IEEE 1366 |
| Northern States Power Co - Minnesota (ND) | 54.54 | 95,754 | IEEE 1366 |
| MidAmerican Energy Co (IL) | 174.0 | 85,293 | IEEE 1366 |
| Otter Tail Power Co (MN) | 141.67 | 63,290 | IEEE 1366 |
| Otter Tail Power Co (ND) | 129.6 | 59,761 | IEEE 1366 |
| Otter Tail Power Co (SD) | 70.78 | 11,930 | IEEE 1366 |
| Northern States Power Co (MI) | 115.47 | 8,923 | IEEE 1366 |
| MidAmerican Energy Co (SD) | 42.0 | 5,299 | IEEE 1366 |
Filed to EIA Form 861 for 2024, excluding major event days. Territory-wide averages: see the layer note above for what they do not establish.
The only region NERC's 2024 assessment rates high-risk: coal retirements and delayed additions push reserve margins below reference levels from 2025, with a projected shortfall of about 2.7 GW by 2029.
What this means: A large new load should expect genuine exposure to forced power cuts (curtailment), price spikes, and delays in getting connected, and should design in backup power or firm supply contracts.
assessed · NERC 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment
We have not compiled what firm service actually promises here: whether it is firm, non-firm or interruptible, the conditions under which you can be curtailed, the redundancy required of you, and the transfer time behind any N-1 commitment. Treat this as an open diligence item, not as an indication that service is firm.
Utility feeds, UPS, storage, on-site generation, islanding, black start and the residual energy you still expect to lose are properties of a specific site design, not of a market. This layer only exists once there is a site, and we never assert it for you.
What this means: Supply and demand look broadly balanced; the outcome hinges on the drivers below.
The average customer loses about 119.9 minutes of power per year (2024). This is the standard regulator outage measure (SAIDI); lower means a more reliable grid.
Averaged across 25 territories. No single customer experiences this figure. The per-territory table in the reliability overlay above gives each operator’s own filed record, which is what a site-specific read needs.
382 GW
50 months
The full queue analysis for this market, which covers the share of projects that give up and leave the queue (the withdrawal rate), how much of the queue is data centers, and the sources, is available through /api/v1/queue/miso with a paid key. These are generation and storage queue figures: they show interconnection-system congestion, not a typical large-load connection wait.
High
about $217 per MW-day, annualized
2025/26 planning year
MISO's first seasonal, reliability-based auction produced a record summer clearing price of $666.50 per MW-day and an annualized level near $217; the following year eased toward $126 but the market stays structurally tight.
Source: MISO Planning Resource Auction (Modo Energy). A derived indicator: we publish the public clearing price and our read, never paywalled exchange data.
$48 to $78 per MWh
Midpoint about $60 per MWh
The Midwest is a moderate, generally low-cost large-load market: cheap wholesale energy plus transmission and a modest capacity charge. Delivered cost sits below the coastal ISOs.
This market's band is free here; the ranked cross-market table with every market's precise midpoint is the Analyst Desk. See the ranked view.
Basis: triangulated from public sources, in US dollars per MWh delivered to a large high-load-factor load, excluding refundable taxes. Sources: MISO 2024 State of the Market (Potomac Economics) · Wholesale electricity prices (EIA).
100 MW contracted demand, 95% load factor, HV servicecalculated
A load of this shape consumes 832,200 MWh a year. At the delivered band of $48 to $78/MWh that is $39,945,600 to $64,911,600 a year in recurring power.
Wholesale energy is 58% of the delivered rate here; the other $25/MWh is capacity, network, demand and levies. See the full build-up.
Recurring charges only. Customer-funded connection, substation and network-upgrade capital is quoted per project by the network operator and is not in this figure. A load factor materially below 95% raises the delivered rate per MWh, because demand and network charges are levied per MW; screen your own load to see whether the band still applies.
High
3 of 4 data layers measured
Full
3 of 3 dimensions: reliability, connection, cost
June 2026
per-layer vintages below
| Layer | Method | Vintage | Freshness | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PGIQ Rating opinion | opinion | June 2026 | Current | PGIQ methodology |
| Reliability | measured | 2024 | Fresh | EIA Form 861, Schedules 3B and 3C (annual electric power industry report) (two major-event methods, IEEE; respondent-defined, customer-weighted blend of 25 of 25 territories, 100% of customers, regional context only) |
| Forward cost | measured | 2025/26 planning year | Fresh | MISO Planning Resource Auction (Modo Energy) |
| Interconnection queue | measured | end-2025 (LBNL 2026) | Fresh | LBNL Queued Up 2026 |
| Realized cost | triangulated | 2026 | Fresh | MISO 2024 State of the Market (Potomac Economics) |
Freshness reflects each layer's refresh cadence: reliability annual to three-yearly, capacity-auction and queue yearly, tariffs every year or two. The full cross-market freshness dashboard is at /data-quality.
Territories in this market, each with its own filed record: DTE Electric Company, Consumers Energy Co - (MI), Northern States Power Co - Minnesota, Union Electric Co - (MO), Ameren Illinois Company, Wisconsin Electric Power Co, Duke Energy Indiana, LLC, MidAmerican Energy Co. Which one serves a given site depends on where that site is.
How the connection process is organised: the applicable service and connection entities depend on the candidate location and the power pathway. We have not compiled the structure for this market; that is a gap in our wayfinding, not a fact about the market.
The real-world events that test our Tier 2 call for MISO (Midwest): 2 support it and 1 challenges it. Each is dated and cited, so you can check the rating against what is actually happening on the ground.
The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin voted unanimously (6 Aug 2026) to rescind the completeness determination for American Transmission Company's roughly $1.4 billion 345 kV project, forcing a restart of the application after more than 550 design adjustments. Commissioners said the vote should not be read as a rejection of the project. ATC says it is the first such action in the PSC's 95 year history.
Source: Wisconsin Watch ↗A dayslong heat dome over the Midwest drove demand to about 122 GW and MISO invoked maximum generation emergency procedures (15 Jul 2026), its second emergency of the month.
Source: RTO Insider ↗MISO's long-term forecast (13 Apr 2026) sees peak load rising from 121 GW in 2025 to about 163 GW by 2035, led by data centers, with 8 to 14 GW of DC load expected online in 2026-2027. MISO flags high uncertainty and signs of right-sizing.
Source: Utility Dive / MISO ↗How MISO (Midwest)'s reliability-adjusted score and tier have moved, month by month. Part of your Analyst Desk.
Every field above carries its own source and freshness. Price, imports and exports are modelled in every market because no feed supplies them. Carbon intensity is derived from the fuel mix.
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This page is our full read on MISO (Midwest) alone, and it is free. To decide where a large load should actually go, you need every market side by side, ranked on recurring cost and time-to-connect, with the history and alerts when your shortlist moves. That is the Analyst Desk.
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