SPP has identified a couple potential joint projects with MISO but none with Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., staff told stakeholders Thursday.

The RTOs’ coordinated system plan (CSP) study has focused on three options to address a need along the high-wind Iowa-Nebraska border, Neil Robertson, SPP interregional relations senior engineer, said during the Seams Steering Committee’s meeting Thursday. Robertson said the RTOs still need to complete work in the “cost estimate realm” and that he expects a “determination” on any jointly funded projects by September.

“I can’t project the [CSP’s] final determination,” he said. The RTOs have conducted three previous joint studies since 2014 but have yet to come up with a project to which both could agree. (See MISO, SPP Staff Recommend 2020 Joint Study.)

The 2020 joint CSP with AECI failed to find any projects that provided benefits to both organizations, Robertson said. A final report will be published in a few weeks, he said.

AECI Wolf Creek Agreement Filed with FERC

A separate project with AECI, the 345-kV Wolf Creek-Blackberry line in Kansas and Missouri, cleared another hurdle with a completed cost-of-use agreement between the entities and its subsequent filing at FERC, Robertson said. SPP filed the agreement (ER20-2708) and associated Tariff revisions (ER20-2707) shortly after the SSC meeting, asking for a response within 60 days.

SPP’s Board of Directors suspended the project in April while awaiting the completed agreement. Anxious to relieve congestion on the eastern edge of the RTO’s footprint, stakeholders in July agreed to not lift the suspension and issue a request for proposals. Once the agreement is filed at FERC, intervenors will have 20 days to file any protests while staff prepares the RFP. (See “Agreement on Competitive Project’s Path Forward,” SPP Board of Directors/MC Briefs: July 28, 2020.)

The project was approved by SPP’s board last year and was included in the RTO’s 2020 Transmission Expansion Plan passed in January. Part of the 105-mile project, projected to cost $152 million, would be on the AECI transmission system and constructed by the cooperative. The RTO cannot allocate funds to AECI without FERC approval.

SPP Nears $100M in M2M Settlements

SPP has closed in on $100 million in market-to-market (M2M) settlements accrued from MISO, adding $11.43 million during May and June. That pushed SPP settlements in its favor to $93.85 million since the two neighbors began the process in March 2015.

High wind energy and spring storms led to constraints on temporary and permanent flowgates, with more than 1,500 binding hours during the two months. SPP accrued $5.32 million in settlements in May and $6.11 million in June, the latter being the second highest in a month.

Settlements have been in SPP’s favor for the last nine months and 48 of 64 months total. The M2M process allows the RTOs to dispatch electricity on the most economical routes when congestion leads to constrained flowgates.

MISO’s Independent Market Monitor in June made several recommendations to improve flows across the seam in its annual market report. The recommendations include increased use of automation in the M2M relief requests, SPP’s improved day-ahead modeling of MISO’s M2M constraints, and MISO’s reduction or elimination of its generator shift factor cutoff that limits its relief on M2M constraints. (See IMM Issues 5 Recs in MISO State of the Market Report.)

The RTOs’ staff will likely assess the recommendations, solicit stakeholder input and share the results before acting on the Monitor’s recommendations.

SSC Prepares to Become Seams Advisory Group

Staff assured SSC members, concerned they may lose input responsibilities into revision requests, that the stakeholder group is still very important to the RTO, despite its pending conversion from a committee to an advisory group.

“An advisory group is just a category of groups,” said Erin Cathey, senior market design analyst. “Advisory groups have specialized skills and expertise in the area. They have a significant and important impact in many areas of the governing documents. As we identify impacts from a revision request, we will route them to the seams group following the same process tomorrow as we do today.”

The SSC will become the Seams Advisory Group as part of a reorganization of the Markets and Operations Policy Committee stakeholder groups. The MOPC endorsed the proposed changes in July. (See “Members OK MOPC Reorg, Strategic Roadmap,” SPP MOPC Briefs: July 15-16, 2020.)

The reorganization is designed to reduce meeting costs and make better use of everyone’s time through more virtual meetings. In that respect, the SSC is already ahead of the game.

Clint Savoy, the committee’s staff secretary, said, “This year has shown us we can be effective, though we have longer meetings virtually.”

The committee is modifying its scope for submission to the Corporate Governance Committee in November. Should the board approve the scope statements and new structure, it will become official early next year.