Press Releases
SPP 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.
Read MoreSouthwest Power Pool welcomes Stuart Solomon, Irene Dimitry to board, reelects Elizabeth Moore to new term
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP), a regional power grid operator that ensures access to reliable and affordable electricity, elected Stuart Solomon and Irene Dimitry to its independent board of directors Oct. 31. Elizabeth Moore, current board member, was elected to serve another term. Solomon, Dimitry and Moore were elected to three-year terms by a vote of SPP’s membership, effective Jan. 1, 2024.
Read MoreMN Commerce Department and regional grid operators receive $464 million from U.S. Department of Energy for innovative electric grid project
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has approved $464 million to fund a joint proposal by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Great Plains Institute and two regional electricity transmission operators, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) and Southwest Power Pool (SPP) for DOE’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program.
Read MoreSPP RTO will expand with commitments from western utilities
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP) will soon become the first organization in the U.S. to provide full regional transmission organization (RTO) services in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections of the nation’s power grid. SPP has received commitments from seven western utilities to become full members in the RTO. Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Colorado Springs Utilities, Deseret Generation and Transmission Cooperative, Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN), Platte River Power Authority, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and three regions of the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)—Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), Rocky Mountain Region (RM) and Upper Great Plains-West (UGP)—are preparing to join the RTO in early 2026. The expansion of SPP’s service territory is expected to create economic and reliability benefits for its member companies through access to a larger generation fleet, greater geographic diversity, and increased trading opportunities in SPP’s energy markets.
Read MoreSPP board selects NextEra Energy Transmission Southwest, LLC to construct $291.6 million New Mexico transmission project
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) board of directors approved an industry expert panel (IEP) recommendation for NextEra Energy Transmission Southwest, LLC to build the Crossroads-Hobbs-Roadrunner transmission project. The proposed 90.5-mile and 44.5-mile, 345-kilovolt lines will connect the Crossroads, Hobbs and Roadrunner substations in New Mexico, will cost an estimated $291.6 million to construct and are expected to be completed in 2026. The board approved Southwestern Public Service Company as the alternate builder.
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