How a battery earns in Midcontinent (MISO)

The Midcontinent ISO runs the day-ahead energy market across a vast 15-state footprint from the Dakotas to Louisiana, where wind is now a dominant daily resource (summer 2025 wind seasonal ELCC near 20.8 percent). A battery earns primarily through day-ahead price arbitrage — charging in cheap wind-heavy overnight hours and discharging into the evening peak — a recent 30-day spread of about $48/MWh, roughly 115 percent of the average price. On top of energy, storage stacks revenue from MISO’s seasonal Planning Resource Auction (PRA), where four-hour batteries currently receive a 95 percent administrative capacity credit — the highest among U.S. ISOs — though a new Direct-Loss-of-Load accreditation lowers that toward 50–65 percent from planning year 2028–29. With roughly 1 GW installed and about 50 GW of standalone storage queued for interconnection, MISO is early in a large build-out.

$48/MWh

30-day day-ahead spread (~115% of avg price)

95%

Four-hour BESS capacity credit (highest US ISO)

~50GW

Standalone storage in MISO interconnection queue