The Midcontinent Independent System Operator has identified 15 projects carrying 7.3 gigawatts of proposed capacity in the fifth round of its generator interconnection fast lane, with natural gas combined-cycle plants making up roughly half that total. Data center construction in Indiana and Louisiana is the primary force behind the class. MISO expects all generators in the group to reach commercial service by 2029.
What it means
Louisiana accounts for a cluster of large gas plants, each tied to a specific load driver. Entergy Louisiana’s 767.7 MW Calcasieu Parish combined-cycle facility is aimed at broader regional resource adequacy rather than a single customer. The utility’s separate 377 MW Point Coupee plant is reserved for Meta’s Hyperion AI campus in Richland Parish. Cleco’s 756 MW Rapides Parish combined-cycle project would deliver power to Applied Digital’s $3.6 billion AI campus in Boyce. NextEra Energy is pursuing two Louisiana proposals: a 750 MW Bayou Point combined-cycle plant for unspecified data center demand and a 500 MW Steamboat battery storage facility to serve tech-driven load.
Indiana’s portion of the class centers on the Heartland Industrial Park campus in New Lebanon. Maple Creek Energy is leading a 641.8 MW Sullivan County combined-cycle project linked to that campus, and the 400 MW Trotman Energy Center would also supply data centers there. Northern Indiana Public Service Co. filed a 600 MW battery storage project in Malden to serve hyperscale campuses including Amazon’s growing presence in northwestern Indiana. NextEra is also pursuing battery projects in Sullivan, Pike, and Vigo counties, including a 500 MW Merom Energy Storage facility in Sullivan County.
Outside those two states, the DOUBLEC Energy Center in Crittenden County, Arkansas, pairs solar generation with battery storage and would connect to the West Memphis 500-kV transmission line — the same line being tapped for a substation serving Google’s Project Pyramid data center campus. MISO also approved the Little Rock Wind Project in Minnesota and NextEra’s Tradewater Energy Storage battery project in Kentucky for study in this class.
Across all five rounds of the fast lane, MISO has received 58 project submissions totaling nearly 29 GW. Of those, 38 projects at roughly 18 GW have completed negotiations and signed interconnection agreements, and five more representing about 3 GW are close to doing so. Some MISO stakeholders have argued the auxiliary queue diverts attention from the standard interconnection process. The fast-track program is set to end in 2027, when the 68-project cap — split among 50 slots for load-serving entities, 10 for independent power producers, and eight for retail-choice load — could be reached. MISO Vice President of System Planning Aubrey Johnson said the fast-track mechanism is designed to bring reliability-critical generation into service more quickly.
Key facts
- 7.3 GW: total proposed capacity in MISO’s fifth fast-track interconnection class (15 projects)
- 2029: MISO’s target in-service year for this class
- 767.7 MW: Entergy Louisiana’s Calcasieu Parish Combined Cycle plant
- 756 MW: Cleco’s Rapides Parish Combined Cycle plant, serving Applied Digital’s Boyce, La. campus
- $3.6 billion: value of Applied Digital’s AI data center campus in Boyce, La. (according to the company)
- 750 MW: NextEra Energy’s Bayou Point Combined Cycle plant, Louisiana
- 377 MW: Entergy Louisiana’s Point Coupee Combined Cycle plant, reserved for Meta’s Hyperion campus
- 641.8 MW: Maple Creek Energy’s Sullivan County Combined Cycle project, Indiana
- 600 MW: Northern Indiana Public Service Co.’s Malden Battery Energy Storage System
- 500 MW each: NextEra’s Steamboat Energy Storage (Louisiana) and Merom Energy Storage (Sullivan County, Ind.)
- 400 MW: Trotman Energy Center, Indiana
- 58 total submissions, nearly 29 GW: cumulative fast-lane pipeline across all five rounds
- 68-project cap; program sunsets in 2027
Source: RTO Insider, reporting MISO announcements