PRESS RELEASE: At its Oct. 29 meeting, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Board of Directors approved a historic $7.7 billion plan to expand and upgrade the region’s transmission capacity. The initiative represents a major milestone in serving increasing demand for reliable electricity throughout the regional transmission organization’s (RTO) service territory.
SPP’s 2024 Integrated Transmission Plan (ITP) is the single largest portfolio, in terms of size and value, that SPP has proposed for construction in its 20-year history as a transmission planning coordinator. The approved plan includes 89 transmission upgrades needed to address increasing electricity consumption and changes in the region’s generating fleet. These projects are expected to quickly pay for themselves and provide benefits exceeding costs by a rate of at least 8-to-1 while improving grid resilience in the face of extreme weather events.
Prior to the board’s approval of the ITP portfolio, SPP’s Markets and Operations Policy Committee (MOPC) – a group comprising representatives of every member of the SPP RTO – voted in support of the plan with 95% approval.
“The high degree of consensus among our stakeholders in support of such a significant infrastructure investment demonstrates the quality of this remarkable planning effort which is expected to provide significant value for years to come,” said SPP Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Lanny Nickell. “We appreciate our members’ engagement in our study process and their support for this step toward improved resource adequacy and grid resilience.”
The 2024 ITP portfolio is the product of 27 months of study and approximately 150 meetings of 11 working groups and committees comprising representatives of SPP’s member organizations. SPP evaluated more than 2,000 potential solutions to anticipated system needs, arriving at 89 projects that represent 2,333 miles of new transmission and 495 miles of transmission rebuilds.
“The magnitude of the 2024 ITP is larger than we’ve seen before, but the time is right,” said SPP Vice President of Engineering Casey Cathey. “We’re seeing a large increase in demand for power throughout the nation and our region. Events like Winter Storms Uri and Elliott have highlighted the need for increased transmission capacity to ensure that all customers continue to receive reliable electricity service in the most challenging times.”
Read the full ITP report on SPP.org for a list of all projects.
Meghan Sever, 501-482-2393, [email protected]
