Western RC Services
Quick Links
- June 5, 2018, release announcing intent to provide RC services in the west
- Sept. 17, 2018, release announcing agreements with western RC customers
- April 4, 2019, release announcing SPP's interest in building a western energy imbalance market
- Sept. 1, 2020, release announcing new customers in four states
SPP brings customer-centric reliability to the west
As a certified Reliability Coordinator, SPP ensures the reliability of the bulk electric system in the Western Interconnection on behalf of:
- Arizona Electric Power Cooperative, Inc.
- Black Hills Energy’s three electric utilities: Black Hills Power, Inc., Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power Company, and Black Hills Colorado Electric, Inc.
- City of Farmington, NM
- Colorado Springs Utilities
- CORE Electric Cooperative
- El Paso Electric Company
- Platte River Power Authority
- Public Service Company of Colorado (Xcel Energy)
- Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association
- Tucson Electric Power
- Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Colorado River Storage Project Management Center, WAPA Desert Southwest Region, WAPA Rocky Mountain Region, and WAPA Upper Great Plains – West
SPP has operated as a reliability coordinator certified by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation in the Eastern Interconnection for more than two decades. The chance to provide services to new customers in the west represents an opportunity to enhance reliability in the Western Interconnection while simultaneously benefitting SPP’s existing customers through economies of scale and resulting cost savings.
Experience
SPP has experience providing contract RC services across a multistate region and has expanded its services and territory several times in the last decade. The regional transmission organization (RTO) incorporated several Nebraska utilities in 2009, implemented its FERC-approved highway/byway cost-allocation methodology and integrated transmission-planning process in 2010, launched its Integrated Marketplace in 2014 and added the Integrated System to its member roster in 2015.
Service and Affordability
SPP understands the complexity and importance of collaboration between reliability coordinators, transmission operators (TOP), and balancing authorities (BA) to ensure reliable and efficient operation of the interconnected transmission system.
SPP’s primary duty is to keep the lights on by maintaining constant situational awareness across its footprint, portions of neighboring service territories, and other areas that may impact its own reliability. Its track record proves it has the knowledge, skills and tools to ensure grid reliability, and SPP has demonstrated its ability to work with neighboring RCs and provide leadership to enhance reliability across geographic regions and system borders.
SPP maintains a west-wide system model and coordinates its maintenance with other appropriate parties. It is committed to working with BAs, TOPs, and other RCs in the Western Interconnection to support the development, enhancement, and maintenance of the Enhanced Curtailment Calculator, Western Interchange Tool, and Western Interconnection Synchrophasor Project.
SPP appreciates that reliability standards alone are insufficient to ensure the grid’s reliability and resilience. That is why SPP’s value and service offerings extend well beyond compliance with minimum standards. SPP also provides services no one else in the region does, like rating submission tools, funding of data exchanges and communication tools and real-time transient and voltage-stability monitoring. Though its products and services will evolve as customer needs change, today they include:
- Posted results of energy management system (EMS) real-time contingency analysis
- Real-time view of the SPP state estimator solution
- Rating submission tool for RC customers that are also TOPs
- Redundant ICCP links for RC customers that are also BAs or TOPs
- BA and TOP site-located satellite phone
- Western Interchange Tool
- Geospatial interconnection monitoring for BAs and TOPs
- Real-time transient stability monitoring to coordinate mitigation with affected TOPs
- Facilitation of stakeholder engage through a Western Reliability Working Group and Western Reliability Executive Committee
- Enhanced validation of TOP restoration plans on request
- Centralized RC-to-TOP and BA messaging tools
- BA and TOP self-service powerflow and contingency analysis runs on SPP’s model and EMS (requires additional license fees)
SPP is committed to the constant evolution of its tools and processes to keep pace with industry trends. Recently, for example, studies of high penetration levels of variable generation led to the implementation of real-time voltage stability and transient stability tools and new operational studies that consider various levels of wind.
Governance and Stakeholder Involvement
For more than 75 years, SPP has distinguished itself as a stakeholder-driven organization that achieves its business objectives through consensus-building and open, transparent communication. It will bring the same approach to the governance of its western reliability-coordination services and has mechanisms in place to ensure not only system reliability but ample opportunities for customer engagement.
SPP’s Western Reliability Working Group (WRWG) is the forum for customers of SPP’s western reliability-coordination services to engage in matters of RC-related governance and strategy and with other stakeholders. Its meetings serve as a jumping-on point for entities looking to learn about SPP or to have a say in the development of the RTO’s service offerings in the west.
Attendees may register on SPP.org for WRWG meetings, which may be attended in person or by phone. Those interested in learning more about SPP’s provision of RC service in the west are encouraged to register and attend or to contact SPP’s customer relations department.
Additionally, the NERC and WECC standards-development process is open to all interested stakeholders and permits any entity or individual to propose the development of new or modified reliability standards. SPP also acknowledges the jurisdictions and authority of other regulatory bodies and seeks to work closely with them in the interest of enhanced reliability.
