SPP will soon reach a significant milestone when it adds its 100th member in global renewable developer EDF Renewables.
CEO Barbara Sugg said in an email to stakeholders that France-based EDF will become a full-fledged member on June 1. The company develops, builds and operates clean energy power facilities in more than 20 countries. It has installed 12.6 GW of capacity around the globe.
Arash Ghodsian, EDF’s senior director of transmission strategy and policy, said the company was pleased to partner with SPP and its “long history of keeping the lights on, thanks to a resourceful staff, a sound governance structure and an open stakeholder process.”
The RTO previously added Roughrider Electric Cooperative as its 99th member on April 30. The North Dakota distribution cooperative serves more than 8,000 members in six counties. It purchases power through Montana’s Upper Missouri Generation & Transmission Cooperative and also sources energy from SPP members Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Western Area Power Administration.
Sugg also said SPP is planning to begin returning non-operations staff to its Arkansas facilities on July 6, assuming a 14-day downward trajectory of new cases in the state and that other criteria are met. Employees will return to their workplaces in a phased approach, 20% at a time, Sugg said in April.
“Rest assured we are carefully monitoring the pandemic as it evolves and are continuing to put the safety and well-being of our employees at the top of our priority list,” she said.
SPP on May 7 extended its suspension of all business travel and in-person meetings until Aug. 1, at the earliest.
