Balanced Portfolio

The Balanced Portfolio was an initiative to develop a group of economic transmission upgrades that benefit the entire SPP region and to allocate those project costs regionally. The benefits of this group of 345 kV transmission upgrades have been demonstrated by model analysis to outweigh the costs, and the regional cost-sharing creates balance across the SPP region.

Savings are realized when transmission upgrades reduce congestion on SPP's transmission system, thus lowering generation production costs. Economic upgrades may provide other benefits to the power grid such as increasing reliability, lowering required reserve margins, deferring reliability upgrades, lowering end-use consumer costs and providing environmental benefits due to more efficient operation of assets and greater utilization of renewable resources.  

The Cost Allocation Working Group (CAWG), which reports to the Regional State Committee, worked diligently through the stakeholder process to identify upgrades that would provide a balanced benefit to SPP members over a specified 10-year payback period. "Balanced" is defined in Attachment O of SPP's Regional Tariff, such that for each Zone, the sum of the benefits of the potential Balanced Portfolio must equal or exceed the sum of the costs. The Tariff allows for the adjustment of revenue requirements to achieve balance for the portfolio. 

After development and review of the Balanced Portfolio, the CAWG endorsed Portfolio 3E "Adjusted" (without Chesapeake, without Reno Co – Summit). Portfolio 3E "Adjusted" provides greater benefit than costs and would require lower transfer requirements to achieve balance. The CAWG, along with the Economic Studies Working Group, reviewed and approved study assumptions used in the Balanced Portfolio analysis. 

Portfolio 3E "Adjusted" contains a diverse group of 345kV transmission projects addressing many of SPP's top flowgates:

• The 250-mile "Woodward -Tuco" line between Hale County, Texas (north of Abernathy) and Woodward, Okla., will cost $229 million.
• The 215-mile "Spearville-Knoll-Axtell" line between Spearville, Kan., (east of Dodge City); Hays County, Kan.,; and Axtell, Neb., will cost $236 million.
• The 100-mile "Seminole-Muskogee" line between Seminole County and Muskogee, Okla., will cost $129 million.
• The 36-mile "Sooner-Cleveland" line between Sooner Lake in Noble County, Okla., and Cleveland, Okla., will cost $34 million.
• The 30-mile "Iatan-Nashua" line between Iatan and Nashua, Mo., (north of Kansas City) will cost $54 million.
• The Anadarko Transformer in Anadarko, Okla., will cost $8 million.
• The Swissvale-Stilwell Tap near Gardner, Kan., will cost $2 million.

Total Engineering and Construction Costs:  $692 million

The SPP Board of Directors approved the Balanced Portfolio projects in April 2009 and directed staff to finalize the Balanced Portfolio Report in accordance with the SPP Tariff and then issue Notification To Construct letters. The Notifications To Construct were issued in June 2009.