FERC has conditionally approved SPP’s tariff revision to implement a system support resource program to ensure the transmission system’s reliability when a generating resource seeks to retire (ER25-177).

In its March 19 order, the commission directed the RTO to submit a compliance filing with the effective date before it implements the program, modeled after MISO’s SSR methodology and other grid operators’ reliability must-run efforts. SPP expects the effective date to be in the fourth quarter of 2026 and was granted a waiver from FERC’s 120-day notice requirement for good cause.

SPP’s SSR program includes a compensation mechanism to incentivize continued operation of resources when a retirement study identifies network upgrades necessary to address reliability that can’t be completed before the projected retirement date. The RTO said the SSR program will be used as a last resort when a reliability concern is identified, preventing the resource’s retirement for up to a year until the concern is removed.

FERC found the grid operator’s SSR program to be a “reasonable backstop measure” that provides a “reasonable balance between SPP’s need to manage reliability and generator owners’ need to manage their assets efficiently.” It also ruled that the RTO’s proposal will “properly allocate” SSR costs to asset owners based on each owner’s share of the reliability benefits received from the continued operation of the SSR.