With heat advisories and warnings in place for much of its footprint, SPP set a record for peak load last week.

The grid operator successfully handled demand from a record 51.1 GW of load at 4:30 p.m. CT on July 5, breaking the previous mark of 51 GW set last July. The RTO and its members also maintained reliability last Wednesday and Thursday, when load peaked about 49.9 GW both days.

SPP said a conservative operations advisory issued July 1 alerted its member utilities to operate the regional grid with “extra care” by postponing maintenance on critical facilities and increasing reserve requirements. The advisory was effective Wednesday — the day after the record was set — through last Friday. (See SPP Calls for Conservative Ops This Week.)

“Periods like this week, with extreme heat affecting so much of the country where we operate, underscore how much value there is in regional collaboration,” said Bruce Rew, SPP senior vice president of operations. “We’re proud of the job we do coordinating among our member utilities to keep the lights on.”

SPP highlighted its fuel diversity that is heavy on coal, gas and renewables in helping meet demand fueled by the extreme heat. It said demand response contributed 1.1 MW to the fuel mix.

The RTO kept a resource advisory in place through 10 p.m. Wednesday because of the extreme heat, high regionwide electricity use and uncertainty in SPP’s wind forecast. Neither of the advisories requires consumer conservation.

The Weather Channel says July temperatures are expected to be above average from the Texas Gulf Coast through the Central Plains and into Wyoming.

An RTO spokesperson said it was continuing to watch system conditions during the weekend and into this week, as it will do as the summer progresses.

SPP members serve about 18 million people in the grid operator’s 14-state region, which covers 550,000 square miles.