Southwest Power Pool | Energy Central

Utility Dive: “SPP okays $7.7 B transmission plan targeting ‘generational challenges’ with power supply + demand.” You’ve no doubt heard how the US electric grids have real deficits of long-distance transmission. The result is a huge backup in the permitting + construction of new renewable generation projects such as wind + solar. Now the Southwest Power Pool [SPP]—14 states comprising a coordinated Regional Transmission Organization [RTO]—has ‘approved a slate of 89 transmission projects with an estimated cost of $7.7 billion.’ This plan includes 2,333 miles of new transmission and 495 miles of transmission rebuilds. SPP’s footprint “is facing a generational challenge as the need arises to balance new sources of demand, like data centers, crypto mining, mining, and oil and gas production, with the retirement of conventional resources that use coal and natural [gas] as fuel sources,” One example addresses “uniquely sharp load increases in New Mexico” by recommending a 765–kV line be developed from the panhandle of Texas to southeastern New Mexico, “delivering much needed energy to a remote area of the region.” Another example is ‘rapid load growth in North Dakota and South Dakota [which] will be addressed through a network of new and upgraded lines across both states.’ “SPP also identified projects that increased the transmission system’s ability to transfer power from north to south within the SPP footprint by approximately 1.5 [gigawatts] GW…further increases resiliency against extreme winter storms by enabling SPP’s northern generation facilities which are hardened to withstand extreme temperatures to deliver power to the southern portion of SPP’s footprint.” And you thought politics was fraught with division + complexity. Imagine what electrical engineers have to deal with every day.