SPP asked FERC last week to allow it to waive Tariff provisions governing the selection of an industry expert panel (IEP) to evaluate proposals for the RTO’s first competitive solicitation under Order 1000 (ER16-126).

SPP’s Tariff requires its Oversight Committee to establish an IEP candidate pool composed of individuals with expertise in at least one of five areas of electric transmission: engineering design; project management and construction; operations; rate design and analysis; and finance.

When an IEP is needed to evaluate proposals, the committee selects three to five candidates from the pool that collectively satisfy each of the five areas.

The RTO told FERC it recently learned that one of the 10 candidates in its 2015 pool — the only one with expertise in one of the five areas required — may not be able to serve and that it won’t have time to select a replacement and meet its deadline for evaluating the upcoming project.

The Tariff requires the panel to recommend a proposal within 60 days of beginning their review.

SPP asked FERC to shorten the comment period and grant the waiver by Nov. 2, when responses to the RTO’s request for proposals are due on the 21-mile Walkemeyer-North Liberal 115-kV project in Kansas. (See SPP Issues RFP for 115-kV Transmission Project.)

“Out of respect to the candidate’s privacy,” SPP said it was not disclosing the candidate’s name, area of expertise or reason that could prohibit participation.

SPP said a suitable replacement was found in the 2016 candidate pool, but the Tariff would not allow the candidate to review proposals issued in 2015. Granting the RTO’s waiver request would ensure “no material delays arise” in the review of the Walkemeyer proposals.

In July, the board approved a staff recommendation to move the project’s “regulatory approval need date” eight months from the Notice to Construct’s issuance. The change met a Kansas Corporation Commission statutory obligation to rule on such requests within 180 days of the initial filing and give the winning entity “reasonable time” to gain utility status in the state. (See “Date Change for Walkemeyer Project RFP” in SPP BoD/Members Committee Briefs.)

SPP Sets New Highs for Wind Usage                 

SPP’s balancing authority set new records for wind and wind-penetration peaks last week. The BA recorded a new high for wind at 8,458 MW on Oct. 18, and a new wind penetration level of 37.8% of load on Oct. 19.

SPP’s previous wind-related highs were 8,412 MW of wind on Feb. 1 and 36.8% of load on April 16.

The record highs came less than a month after the Integrated System’s incorporation into the SPP footprint Oct. 1.

SPP set several wind records last year, when it saw wind energy account for 11.8% of the footprint’s generation.

— Tom Kleckner