The SPP Market Monitoring Unit’s State of the Market report for the winter months once again highlighted wind generation’s growing importance within the RTO’s footprint.
According to the report, which covered December 2015 through February 2016, wind generation accounted for 17.7% of SPP’s energy, a 43% increase from last winter. Wind generation accounted for 12.4% of energy production last winter and 10.2% during the winter of 2014.
As if to punctuate the point, SPP set a new wind peak during the evening hours of March 28, shortly after the market report was released. The RTO’s new wind peak of 10,809 MW at 9:22 p.m. CT broke the previous record of 10,783 MW, set March 21. Wind penetration reached 40.34% March 28, short of the 41.1% high set March 7.
Wind generation peaked in February, producing nearly 21% of SPP’s energy, according to the Monitor’s report. SPP has 12,397 MW of installed and available wind capacity in its footprint, with another 33,819 MW in various stages of development.
The increase in wind power came at the expense of coal generation, which saw the percentage of energy it produced fall to 46.3% for the month, down from 57% in February 2015.
The report said the increase in wind generation “comes [with] an increase in congestion.” Most congestion in the SPP footprint can be found in the “wind alley” of the Texas Panhandle, western Oklahoma and western Kansas.
The Monitor measures congestion by a constraint’s shadow price, “which reflects the intensity of congestion on the path represented by the flowgate.” It said the shadow price “indicates the marginal value of an additional megawatt of relief on a constraint in reducing the total production costs.”
Shadow prices reached almost $60/MWh on one flowgate and topped $40/MWh on at least two other flowgates.
The Monitor report also said gas costs continued to drop during the winter, with an average Panhandle Hub cost of $1.98/MMBtu, more than 30% lower than 2015 ($2.90/MMBtu) and nearly two-thirds lower than 2014 ($5.68/MMBtu).
The average real-time balancing market’s winter 2016 LMP was $17.82/MWh, down from $25.20/MWh in 2015. The day-ahead market’s average LMP was $18.33/MWh, down from $25.73/MWh last winter.
SPP, AECI Begin Biennial Joint-Study Process
SPP and Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) began their biennial joint-study process with a call for stakeholder feedback and input on a proposed scope last week.
The SPP-AECI Interregional Stakeholder Advisory Committee (IPSAC) has identified several voltage and congestion issues in Missouri and Oklahoma, but the committee said April 1 it is giving stakeholders two to three weeks to comment on the scope. A separate meeting will be scheduled for the study scope’s formal endorsement.
The IPSAC will evaluate the SPP and AECI transmission systems and determine whether “mutually beneficial” joint projects exist. A joint planning committee comprising a representative from each staff will determine cost allocations on a case-by-case basis, with responsibility “assigned equitably” based on the constraint being resolved — and subject to approval of each region.
The two entities have been performing joint studies every other year since 2010, as outlined in their joint operating agreement. The 2014 study identified 463 potential needs along the SPP-AECI seam but resulted in no joint solutions.
Stakeholders asked staff whether this study might solve long-standing constraints in the Lake of the Ozarks region in central Missouri.
“We studied some alternatives in the last joint-study process related to a 345[-kV line] across this lakes area, but we did not see a lot of economic value or immediate reliability concerns a line across that area would solve,” said David Kelley, SPP’s director of interregional relations. “But constraints obviously move around, so we’re always willing to look at an alternative.”
James Vermillion, a senior planning engineer for AECI, said the association’s latest 10-year Long Range Transmission Plan has identified almost $40 million in improvements to maintain grid reliability. Still, that is down from the 2009-19 plan, which identified more than $221 million in projects.
AECI, based in Springfield, Mo., is owned by and provides wholesale power to six regional generation and transmission cooperatives.
SPP.org Wins Best Energy Website Award
SPP’s recently redesigned website has been honored as the Best Energy Website in the 2016 Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards.
SPP.org was redesigned by Little Rock interactive agency Aristotle, which called the new site “a case study in responsive web design that combines great aesthetics and interactive technical features without sacrificing speed.”
The IAC Awards highlight the “best online advertising” in 96 industries and nine online formats, including video, newsletters, email and social media.
– Tom Kleckner
