Southwest Power Pool Board Approves $1.7 Billion In New Projects
by February 3, 2012 11:12 am 74 views
Southwest Power Pool, the Little Rock-based regional transmission operator, says its board has approved more than $1.7 billion in new projects over the next 10 years.
About $251 million in new transmission projects have been approved for construction during the next 5 years. Another $1.5 billion were approved as part of a 10-year transmission upgrade plan.
SPP coordinates electricity transmission across a 9-state footprint.
“This is the second year for us to use the ITP [Integrated Transmission Planning] process and it reflects well on the collaborative, member-driven focus of SPP,” said SPP President and CEO Nick Brown. “Our transparent approach includes state regulators who serve on the SPP Regional State Committee (RSC). The RSC has substantive authority to direct policy changes on behalf of ratepayers and influence important regulatory issues such as how costs of new transmission are allocated in the SPP region.”
The ITP process referenced by Brown is expected to mitigate more than 61 reliability issues. It is also expected to help states in the SPP footprint meet renewable energy goals and targets. The plan calls for 786 miles of 345kv lines, 124 miles of 230kv lines, and 15 transformers.
“A well-planned, robust transmission grid gives us the flexibility to move energy from diverse generating resources to where it’s needed across the region and beyond,” said Lanny Nickell, SPP Vice President of Engineering. “Adding more lanes to the transmission highway will improve our ability to provide the least-cost power to consumers and strengthen grid reliability so power is always there when we need it.”