MISO's Expedited Resource Addition Study (ERAS) is a fast-track interconnection pathway. It can deliver a generator interconnection agreement in months, not the standard years-long queue. On May 27, MISO announced the program's fourth cycle: seven projects totaling 3.7 GW.

Natural gas accounts for 83% of that capacity, up from 73% in Cycle 3 and the highest gas share of any ERAS cycle. Battery energy storage, which claimed a quarter of Cycle 3, falls to 6% share, and solar returns for the first time since Cycle 2. 6.6 GW of earlier applications withdrew from consideration, including the program's only nuclear bid.

​Read more about ERAS eligibility and Cycle 3 on the Modo Energy Terminal. For questions on this research, contact william@modoenergy.com.

Key takeaways

• Natural gas is 83% of Cycle 4 capacity, up from 73% in Cycle 3. BESS falls from 27% to 6%.
• Eight projects, totaling 6.6 GW, withdrew from ERAS including the program's only nuclear bid (675 MW) and several NextEra solar projects.
• There are now 47 projects in ERAS, totalling 28 GW, leaving 21 project slots open before the August 2027 deadline.

How does MISO ERAS Cycle 4 compare to earlier cycles?

Cycle 4 confirms that ERAS is, above all, a natural gas accelerator. Across four cycles, natural gas has never fallen below 70% of selected capacity, and Cycle 4 pushes it back above 80%.

Battery energy storage moved in the opposite direction. After peaking at 27% of Cycle 3, BESS is a single 230 MW project in Cycle 4, or 6%. The Cycle 3 battery surge now looks like a single procurement wave rather than a structural shift.

However, Cycle 3 drew a wave of utility battery procurement, led by NIPSCO and Xcel.

Cycle 4 is mostly gas combined-cycle and combustion-turbines serving data center and manufacturing load, led by Entergy's Richland Parish build for Meta's data center. The demand driver is the same as Cycle 3, met with a different resource.

Solar returns as a small subset of total accepted capacity. Blue Jacket and Pumpkin Patch add 400 MW of Illinois solar, the first solar in ERAS since Cycle 2. Wind remains absent, as it has been since Cycle 2.

Who is building in MISO ERAS Cycle 4?

The largest Cycle 4 project is Entergy Louisiana's Richland Parish 3 & 4, at 1,531 MW of natural gas. It sits in the same county as Franklin Farms, Entergy's Cycle 1 project.

NIPSCO returns with the 859 MW Malden combined-cycle plant in Indiana, following its Cycle 3 Schahfer and Mitchell filings. Hallador Power Company is a new entrant, with the 530 MW Merom Generating Station in Indiana. Alliant Energy had another projected selected, its 150 MW Neenah plant in Wisconsin.

The two solar projects are developer-led rather than utility-owned, but qualified via an executed off-take agreement and regulatory sign-off. NextEra contributes the cycle's only storage project, the 230 MW Tradewater project in Kentucky.

Geographically, Cycle 4 repeats the program's pattern: gas anchored in Louisiana and Indiana, with smaller projects spread across the Upper Midwest.

What has been withdrawn from the ERAS queue?

6.6 GW of ERAS applications, across eight projects, withdrew from ERAS.

Gas accounts for 5 GW of withdrawals, including repeated Entergy Louisiana units. Alliant Energy withdrew a gas plant in Linn County, Iowa, then re-entered it as a new application. Among the withdrawals was the program's only nuclear bid, a 675 MW NextEra filing in Iowa. NextEra also pulled solar projects in Indiana.

How close is MISO ERAS to its 68-project cap?

ERAS caps at 68 projects and sunsets on August 31, 2027. MISO reports 47 projects accepted, representing nearly 28 GW. Of those, 25 projects (about 11 GW) have reached completed generator interconnection agreements, and 15 more (about 8 GW) are nearing completion.

21 slots are still available for future ERAS tracks. MISO has also reached its cap on load-serving entity projects, with a waitlist of four additional applications. If the program closes without renewal, remaining and waitlisted projects revert to the Definitive Planning Process, where study timelines run three years or longer.

What does Cycle 4 mean for developers?

The demand drivers has not changed. Data center and manufacturing load still pulls MISO's resource mix toward firm, dispatchable capacity.

For developers, the window is closing. ERAS has roughly two cycles of capacity left, the load-serving entity cap is reached, and MISO has not signaled an extension. Merchant developers remain locked out by the off-take and site-control requirements.

When ERAS sunsets, every new project reverts to a Definitive Planning Process that the program was built to bypass. The next five years of MISO’s buildout will be shaped less by who can move fastest and more by which utilities secured a fast-track slot before the door closed.