By Rich Heidorn Jr.

TULSA, Okla. — SPP members last week rejected a request from Western Farmers Electric Cooperative for a waiver from a rule barring base plan transmission funding for wind generation projects that push wind’s share of capacity above 20% of summer peak load.

Members of the Markets & Operations Policy Committee agreed with a staff recommendation, which found that Western Farmers’ plan to add 100 MW of wind generation did not qualify for the waiver.

At the same time, members agreed that the 20% threshold — set years ago when SPP was comprised of smaller balancing authorities and there was concern over being able to balance large swings in wind generation — should be revisited now that is operating a vast area as a single balancing authority.

“I think some of the concerns about the operational challenges don’t exist or the limit could be higher,” said Antoine Lucas, director of planning. “But until there’s a new standard, we need to follow the 20%.”

Steve Gaw, representing The Wind Coalition, said the justification MISO presented to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the limit was “entirely about reliability.” Continuing the 20% limit now, he said, is “hard to justify.”

Mitchell Williams, representing Western Farmers, said the cooperative needs to add more baseload generation because it may turn its one baseload coal plant into a peaking unit under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. The 100 MW from the Balko wind project — which the cooperative said was the most competitive resource available — would push wind from 19% to 25% of Western Farmers’ peak load over the next decade.

“We don’t think [the base plan funding] is a lot of money, but it’s still money and I would not be responsible to my board if I didn’t ask,” Williams said.

American Electric Power’s Richard Ross was unsympathetic. He suggested Western Farmers should have used the SPP screening study process so it could have considered the transmission costs before agreeing to purchase the wind capacity.

Although the waiver request won only 33% support, there appeared to be consensus among members on the need to revisit the limit as more wind is expected to be added under the EPA rules.

“This is not going away,” said Bill Grant of Southwestern Public Service. “It’s coming at us like a freight train.”