Press Releases
SPP announces changes to executive leadership
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP) today announced changes to the organization’s executive team meant to further strengthen its position as a leader in electric reliability and affordability. David Kelley has been named Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Casey Cathey has been promoted to Vice President of Engineering.
Read MoreWestern utilities express support for continued Markets+ development
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP) received a letter Friday, April 12 from 26 western entities indicating their support for continued development of Markets+. The letter is signed by organizations from the Pacific Northwest, Desert Southwest and Mountain West regions, which together represent approximately 57 GW of peak demand across ten states and one province in the Western Interconnection. The group highlights preferred aspects of the proposed market’s unique design and governance structure.
Read MoreSPP prepared for April 8 eclipse, expects no significant impacts to grid reliability
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP) is prepared for the effects of the April 8, 2024, eclipse. The majority of SPP’s service territory will experience 50-75% eclipse coverage with a portion of the region and its operating center directly in the eclipse’s path of totality. Having evaluated worst-case scenarios and learned from the August 17, 2017, eclipse, which was the first to affect large portions of its territory, SPP expects no significant impacts to the grid or its operating center.
Read MoreSouthwest Power Pool Completes and Files Markets+ Tariff with Collaboration and Support from Western Stakeholders
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP) reached a significant milestone in the development of its western day-ahead electricity market on Friday, March 29 when it filed its Markets+ tariff with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The achievement underscores SPP’s leadership in market development and dedication to fostering fair and equitable partnerships that prioritize the interests of all parties involved.
Read MoreSPP marks a decade of Integrated Marketplace and more than $10.2 billion in savings
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP) marked the 10th anniversary of its Integrated Marketplace March 1, 2024. The market, which includes day-ahead, real-time and congestion hedging components, has provided more than $10.2 billion in benefits to members of its regional transmission organization (RTO) since its launch in 2014.
Read MoreSouthwest Power Pool board of directors announces new leadership
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — The Board of Directors for Southwest Power Pool (SPP), a regional power grid operator that ensures access to reliable and affordable electricity, announced John Cupparo will assume the role of board chair effective February 7, 2024.
Read MoreSouthwest Power Pool Preparing for Significant Cold Weather across Footprint
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. – Southwest Power Pool (SPP), a regional transmission organization (RTO) responsible for coordinating electric reliability for a 14-state region in the central U.S., is monitoring the impending extreme cold weather events forecasted to impact its Reliability Coordination (RC) and Balancing Authority (BA) footprints. The RC and BA footprints include states in both the Eastern and Western Interconnection. In anticipation of the arctic weather pattern, SPP has already declared multiple advisories for energy operators within its service territory.
Read MoreSPP seeks industry experts to assess competitive transmission project proposals
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP) is accepting applications to create a pool of industry experts. These experts may be chosen to serve on an independent panel to review competitive transmission construction proposals in 2024.
Read MoreSPP names Felek Abbas as new vice president and chief security officer
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP) has selected Felek Abbas as vice president and chief security officer, effective Jan. 3, 2024. The new position is important to safeguarding SPP’s vital role in grid operations and protecting SPP’s data and personnel.
Read MoreSPP marks milestones and progress across western efforts in early November
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Since 2019 when Southwest Power Pool (SPP) officially became a reliability coordinator for several utilities in the Western Interconnection, the grid operator has steadily grown its western customer base and portfolio of western services. The first two weeks of November 2023 have seen SPP make significant progress in continuing to advance three of those services: its operation of the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP) on behalf of Western Power Pool; Markets+, SPP’s proposed bundle of day-ahead and real-time market services; and expansion of SPP’s regional transmission organization (RTO) services into the Western Interconnection.
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