Latest news with #SouthwestPowerPool
E&E News
3 days ago
- Business
- E&E News
Great Plains grid operator asks to fast-track power plants
Another U.S. regional grid operator is proposing a process to fast-track connection agreements for power plants, a process aimed at heading off a looming shortage of generating capacity by the end of the decade. Southwest Power Pool, which spans the wind-soaked corridor from Texas to the Canadian border, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week to approve its Expedited Resource Adequacy Study process to take effect in late July. Little Rock, Arkansas-based SPP is the latest grid operator to accelerate power plant additions. FERC earlier this year approved a request from PJM Interconnection to do the same. More recently, FERC rejected a proposal from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which plans to re-file a revised version next month. Advertisement The rationale for the requests by regional transmission operators is largely the same: legacy fossil fuel power plants are being shuttered and new renewable and natural gas-fired replacements are stuck in a traffic jam of projects waiting on studies for approval to plug into the bulk power grid.
E&E News
12-05-2025
- Business
- E&E News
Bonneville Power finalizes decision to join Western market
The largest electricity supplier in the Pacific Northwest on Friday finalized its decision to join a market being formed by Arkansas-based Southwest Power Pool, rather than one out of California. The choice by the Bonneville Power Administration — a federal agency that distributes hydropower from the Columbia River Basin — sets the stage for the West to be bifurcated between two day-ahead markets after decades of trying to organize the region. Joining SPP's Markets+ operation will allow BPA to buy and sell power on a day-ahead market with a wider footprint of trading partners. In a letter Friday announcing the decision, BPA Administrator and CEO John Hairston said the decision 'offers an opportunity to ensure a reliable, abundant and affordable energy supply for consumers in the Northwest.' Advertisement A broader day-ahead market is expected to lower costs and increase reliability by offering participants a larger pool of resources to buy from. It is also likely to boost low-cost renewable power.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
SWEPCO cuts power to avoid 'catastrophic damage' to power grid
SWEPCO has cut power to more than 30,000 customers in Bossier and Caddo parishes to prevent what the utility said could be "catastrophic damage" to the power grid. SWEPCO said it's working with the Southwest Power Pool in what it deemed an "emergency situation." SWEPCO and Southwest Power Pool manage the flow of electricity in northeastern Louisiana's population hub. "In this instance, our grid operators were instructed to take immediate action, which did not give us time to inform you before the outage occurred," SWEPCO said in a news release. The utility didn't say when power would be restored, only calling it a temporary outage. Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1. This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: SWEPCO cuts power to avoid 'catastrophic damage' to power grid
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
KCC staff stress need for ‘reliable' power generation, defend support of Evergy natural gas plants
Kansas Corporation Commissioners, l to r, Dwight Keen, Andrew French and Annie Kuether, listen to testimony during Evergy's three-day hearing relating to the company's plans to build two new natural gas plants. (Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA – Kansas Corporation Commission staff on Tuesday testified about the need to expand Evergy's power generation capabilities and defended their decision to support the company's request to build two natural gas plants. Evergy and other utility companies file an Integrated Resource Plan with the KCC that details its decision-making process, expectations of capacity needs in the future and how those needs will be met. During the second day of a three-day KCC hearing, opponents questioned Evergy and KCC officials about why they believe natural gas plants are the best way to provide energy to its customers in the future. The company has announced plans to build two plants, the Viola power plant in Sumner County, expected to be online in 2029, and the McNew power plant in Reno County, in service in 2030. The plants, according to testimony, will add 710 megawatts of power each to the company's generation portfolio and have an expected life of 40 years. Generally, 1 megawatts will power 1,000 homes, so the addition of 1,420 megawatts will power about 1.4 million homes. Justin Grady, KCC deputy director of utilities, testified there are 157 new natural gas plants being contemplated or being built in the country right now. He said the need for reliable gas generation capability is significant. 'I spent quite a bit of time in my testimony in this docket on the issue of reliability for these power plants,' Grady said. 'Admittedly, if I'd had to write this testimony two years ago, that would have been much more difficult testimony to write. As you know, every major national or regional reliability organization for a couple years now has really been sounding the alarm, saying, 'Hey, we need to slow down a little bit on the energy transition.' This is not the time to be making permanent retirement decisions. Especially for winter reliability, we really need to maintain the dispatchable capacity we have. We might need to add new dispatchable capacity. So I think we need these plants.' Dispatchable generation refers to power generation plants that can ramp up or down quickly based on an area's need for power. Grady said the Southwest Power Pool, which is the regional transmission organization that ensures reliable power supplies and infrastructure, has also been expressing concerns about reliability within the system. Indeed, the organization's website highlights the challenges facing the industry. 'We are facing an increase in extreme weather events that are causing grid emergencies, tight operating conditions, and risks to human health and safety. In the past, there were only a few weeks in summer when SPP risked running out of energy,' Southwest Power Pool President Barbara Sugg said in a letter posted online. 'Now, we are issuing grid alerts throughout the summer as well as during winter. Our risk of having inadequate supply to meet demand has greatly increased, and grid emergencies are likely to last longer, cause more damage and increase risks to human health and safety.' Jim Zakoura, an attorney for the Kansas Industrial Consumers group, which represents large-volume energy users, questioned Grady about why KCC staff didn't offer options for the commissioners to consider, such as putting one plant in and waiting five years to put another plant in, that would have decreased the retail rate impact in the present plan. That has been their usual practice, Zakoura said. Grady agreed that it has been, but said the depth of the proposal for this hearing required him to work 60 to 80 hours per week for six to eight weeks to properly evaluate and then file the testimony in this docket. However, he said, some of his testimony shared views on whether or not Evergy should abandon its thermal generation plans and move in the direction of more solar, battery storage and wind. But if Evergy would have appeared before the commission to only build half of the natural gas plants and instead to double-down on solar, Grady said he would not have agreed with that plan. 'I would not have been a supporter of that, unless they showed me critical use permits in hand from local communities, willing local communities that wanted to host that solar,' Grady said. 'It's getting more and more difficult to build those kind of resources. Grady did not hesitate to point out that he disagreed with several witnesses who entered testimony about other ways Evergy could achieve its goal of creating more power generation. He referred to testimony by Michael Gorman, a consultant hired by KIC who recommended that KCC deny Evergy's petition to build two plants. Gorman's testimony pointed, among other issues, to Evergy's decision to choose a resource plan that is not the least expensive option, that customers will pay a Construction Work in Progress, referred to as a CWIP, and that there are unknowns about the new plants costs. The CWIP charge that can be added to customer bills was approved by the Kansas Legislature in 2024. It allows utility companies to bill customers for a construction project while it is being built instead of waiting until it is complete and power is being generated. Grady said that without Gorman's testimony in front of him he believed the primary objections were to the early retirement of the coal plants, which is in Evergy's plans for the next few years. 'My recollection was his primary criticism was that this plan relies on and is predicated upon the retirement of Jeffrey 2 and Jeffrey 3. As I interpret from his testimony and from your (Zakoura's) opening statement, the position generally of KIC parties in this docket, you guys generally don't want to retire those coal facilities and you don't want to plan for the retirement of those coal facilities,' Grady said. 'That's a pretty fundamental difference of opinion that we have in this case.' Zakoura questioned the cost to consumers if Evergy retires coal plants that have an existing net book value, meaning the value remaining if the asset has not been fully depreciated. Grady said that while KCC can't direct Evergy to use a Kansas securitization statute, he fully expects the company would do so, which would mitigate the costs to consumers. The securitization statute allows companies to repay debt through issuing bonds so the debt can be repaid over a longer time period. For instance, Kansas Gas Service used securitization after winter storm Uri in 2021 to help customers absorb the costs of meeting energy needs generated by that storm in smaller increments. Grady had similar objections to testimony by Citizens Utility Ratepayer Board witness Lucy Metz, an associate with Synapse Energy Economics, who was a proponent of looking for other ways to expand Evergy's power generation than through construction of natural gas plants. 'Evergy Kansas Central did not robustly analyze and test the market for alternatives to Viola and McNew — including batteries added at sites with existing interconnection rights and additional gas conversions of coal units — and therefore has not demonstrated that the CCGTs (combine cycle gas turbines) are the lowest cost way to meet its capacity and energy needs,' Metz said in her filed testimony. 'Solar and battery additions, including the Kansas Sky project, are likely lower cost than Viola and McNew, will shield ratepayers from future cost risks, and can be procured incrementally. This would allow Evergy greater flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions and supply chain disruptions.' Her testimony, Grady said, misses the mark. 'Maybe some of this isn't her fault because it was developed prior to the recent turmoil with regard to potential trade issues and tariffs, but as evidenced by literally today's announcement of solar tariffs on southeast Asia, I think there is an incredible amount of risk, uncertainty in terms of our ability to import into this country, to build significant amounts of utility-scale solar,' Grady said. 'Everybody in this room knows there is a lot of uncertainty with regard to the Clean Energy Tax Credits and the future of those, and I was real direct about that in my testimony.' Grady said he'd been a vocal supporter of solar but the uncertain environment right now makes a difference. 'I'm still supportive of solar,' he said. 'But I think we all owe it to ourselves to back up a little and realize, this is a pretty uncertain environment to be putting all of our eggs in the solar and battery basket. I disagree with the fundamental conclusions that she draws.' The KCC hearing continues Wednesday, with experts who disagree with Grady's conclusions expected to testify.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BPA announces intention to split with California and join new Southwest energy market
Powerlines in Hood River County above the Columbia River move electricity from the Bonneville Dam to customers across the region on July 25, 2024. (Photo by Jordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle) The nonprofit federal administration that provides one-third of the Northwest's electricity is preparing to part ways with its current Western energy market and sell its excess energy to companies and electric cooperatives as far away as Louisiana. Bonneville Power Administration officials announced in a draft policy proposal released Wednesday that they intend to leave the California-controlled 'real-time' market they've participated in since 2022 and join a new 'day-ahead' energy market based out of Little Rock, Arkansas. The move sparked concern and criticism from public utility commissioners and lawmakers in Oregon and Washington, as well as large investor-owned utilities in the region who say it will drive up rates for their millions of customers and cause grid reliability issues. Most utilities in the West today operate in a 'real-time market,' where each one sets its supply and demand schedule for the next day without seeing what other member utilities are planning, and they buy and sell power on an as-needed basis in the market. In a day-ahead market, everyone shares energy generating capacity and anticipated needs a day ahead, and the market prices are negotiated based on that information. This means a new slate of customers would be able to buy power from BPA that has previously only been available to utilities operating in the 10 states covered by California's 'real-time' system, which includes all or parts of Oregon, Washington, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Although California is developing its own 'day-ahead' market, BPA does not intend to join it. BPA officials will issue a final decision in May on joining the Southwest Power Pool's Markets+ system, instead of California's Extended Day-Ahead Market, or EDAM, system. BPA officials expect by October 2028 the agency would be operating in the Southwest Power Pool. If BPA joins the Southwest Pool, it would still sell energy first to the 140 consumer-owned utilities in the Northwest that it is legally required to serve before selling its excess power. BPA would also continue to sell surplus power to Northwest utilities. BPA officials have asserted for years that California has too much power over the region-wide energy system because the California Independent System Operator is governed in part by the California Legislature. The Southwest Power Pool, on the other hand, is governed by a board that includes power producers and utilities. It serves all or some of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. Critics of BPA's decision to leave the California market and join the Southwest Power Pool say that it would cost Northwest utilities — serving the bulk of residents in the region — big money that they'll have to pass onto their consumers. With BPA out, the pool of energy that Western utilities can purchase from would be smaller and from potentially more expensive sources. It would also delay a long-awaited dream of creating a truly regionally integrated Western grid that could help states collectively manage big transmission issues, boost clean energy generation and address safety issues, lawmakers said. Oregon's U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, has called on BPA for months to reconsider its inclination towards the Southwest Power Pool, which several analyses — including a BPA-commissioned study — have shown will cost more upfront and could lead to higher electricity costs for ratepayers across the Northwest. 'This hasty draft decision by the BPA is not good news for electricity consumers in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest,' Wyden said in an emailed statement. Kandi Young, a spokesperson for Oregon's Public Utility Commission, which has also been critical of BPA's leanings towards the Southwest Pool, said in an email that model's in the BPA-commissioned study show the agency would save customers in the Northwest $4.4 billion in the next decade by choosing to join California's day-ahead market as opposed to the Southwest Power Pool. 'We look forward to further discussion with BPA on how these regional benefits should be viewed alongside the factors they have prioritized,' she said. Doug Johnson, a senior spokesperson for BPA, said in an email that the analysis shows higher upfront costs in joining the Southwest Pool but lower costs over time, and that California's EDAM market would cost more on an annual basis after implementation. The Bonneville Power Administration is a federal agency responsible for selling hydroelectricity generated from 31 federal dams and a nuclear plant in the Columbia Basin at wholesale rates. BPA is not supposed to collect a profit on its electricity sales, which currently power more than one-third of all the electricity used in the Northwest. BPA is obligated first to sell power to 140 consumer-owned utilities in the region, and then it sells the excess to other consumer and private-investor owned utilities in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and areas of Montana, California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. It delivers that electricity via 15,000 miles of transmission lines in oversees in the region, representing 75% of the Northwest's high voltage transmission system. In announcing its intent to join the Southwest Power Pool, BPA has the support of most of the utilities it serves by law, including the backing of the Portland-based Public Power Council, a nonprofit industry group representing consumer-owned utilities in the Northwest that get priority purchase power from the Bonneville Power Administration. Since 2022, BPA has sold its excess power to other Northwest utilities and California's real-time energy market, managed by CAISO. The California-based market is responsible for energy trading across about 80% of the electrical grid in 10 Western states. Most of that energy trading happens via a supercomputer in Folsom, California, which can move energy, such as that coming from BPA, where it's needed in real time and shut down power where it could be dangerous in real-time, like during a wildfire. California, like the Southwest Power Pool, is creating a new day-ahead market where instead of buying, selling and moving energy in real time, members can trade and prices can be negotiated in advance. The biggest utilities in the West, such as PacifiCorp, PGE and Seattle City Light, are choosing to stay with California in its new day-ahead market. Some, such as Puget Sound Energy and Avista, have been waiting to see what BPA decides. The large utilities are concerned that if BPA is removed from the Western power pool, it will drive up prices across the region and create expensive inefficiencies. Letha Tawney, one of three commissioners on the Oregon Public Utility Commission, said if BPA leaves the Western market, it will create needless problems. If a transmission line trips off because of a wildfire, or a coal plant goes down, the supercomputer in Folsom can quickly reroute energy across the region. Without BPA on its radar, a system operator in California would have to call operators in Little Rock to ask what each was seeing on their own maps of the Western energy load. To try to address these concerns, public utilities commissioners, utilities officials and state leaders have created an initiative meant to move some governance away from California and to spread it more broadly across members. BPA officials have said they appreciate the effort — called the 'Pathways Initiative' — but still see California as legislatively bound to serving its state's customers before the region's customers. 'Bonneville staff is concerned that the vast majority of the benefits realized from creating a Westwide market would flow to California,' officials wrote in their recommendation. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
