Having recovered from February’s severe weather, SPP’s market operations are back to normal, with wind and other renewable resources again setting records.
The RTO, which last year became the first grid operator with wind as its No. 1 fuel source (31.3%), recorded its latest high marks at 4:33 a.m. March 29, with historic peaks for wind penetration (81.9% of the fuel mix) and renewable penetration (84.2%).
It was the first time wind penetration has exceeded 80%. Renewables broke the mark set March 14 (81.4%), which had stood only since March 9 (80.3%).
At 7:35 a.m. SPP also set new records for wind (21.1 GW) and renewable (22.7 GW) output. SPP’s previous wind peak had stood since Feb. 4, when it reached 20.1 GW.
“SPP continues to set renewable records because of our diverse fuel mix and dedication to building a robust transmission system,” SPP spokesperson Meghan Sever said. “We expect this trend to continue as we see more and more renewables come online.”
SPP’s installed wind capacity has steadily risen over the last decade. In 2009 it had 3 GW of wind installed. By 2020, that number had grown more than nine-fold to 27 GW. The grid operator expects to install an additional 4 GW of wind and add 473 MW of solar energy to its current 235 MW by the end of the year.
The RTO has more than 79 GW of renewables and storage in its generator interconnection queue, Sever said. Wind accounts for 32.6 GW, solar 35.4 GW and energy storage 11.1 GW. The queue also contains a little more than 5 GW of gas resources.
“With the continued growth of renewable generation in SPP’s footprint and our proven ability to reliably integrate it, we will continue to set subsequent records,” Sever said.
