RTO, SaskPower Agree to Expand Interconnection’s Capacity
Canadian utility SaskPower said on Wednesday that it has signed a 20-year agreement with SPP to more than quadruple transmission capacity between the province of Saskatchewan and the U.S., effective 2027.
The utility and SPP will expand the 150-MW tie line that connects them to 650 MW. SaskPower said expanding the transmission capacity between the two countries will also improve reliability on its side of the border and allow the utility to export excess power to SPP, creating revenue opportunities.
“Access to this large market ensures reliable energy is available to Saskatchewan to support our own generating facilities,” SaskPower CEO Rupen Pandya said. “This will help to manage the integration of more intermittent renewable power such as wind and solar while keeping costs as low as possible for customers.”
SaskPower’s footprint has three ties with the U.S. | SaskPowerSaskPower will build the necessary transmission facilities on its side of the border over the next five years, and SPP will be responsible for construction on its side.
SPP has been making international transactions with SaskPower since 2015, thanks to Canadian interconnections that came when the Integrated System joined the RTO. (See SPP, SaskPower Make First International Trade.)
Clements Dissents on Accreditation Order
After two deficiency notices, FERC has approved SPP’s request to add capacity accreditation methodology provisions for wind and solar resources to its business practices and planning criteria. The RTO now determines the accredited capacity of qualified run-of-river hydroelectric, wind and solar resources based on historical performance, effective Feb. 15, 2022 (ER22-379).
The commission in its Aug. 5 order directed SPP to make a compliance filing within 30 days. The RTO filed its request in November 2021.
Commissioner Allison Clements partially dissented from the order, tweeting last week that she did so on the condition that SPP submit revised tariff compliance records. She said the RTO “should have submitted tariff revisions that explain what its proposal actually is.”
“Granted, the majority agrees that SPP’s proposal falls short of the commission’s rule of reason,” Clements wrote. “But they take it on faith that SPP will submit satisfactory tariff revisions on compliance, without knowing what those revisions would actually say. I cannot conclude that a tariff change is just and reasonable based solely on its general description.”
M2M Settlements up to $341.9M
SPP staff briefed the Seams Advisory Group on Friday on three months of market-to-market (M2M) transactions that brought the settlement accruals in its favor with MISO to $341.9 million.
More than half of the three months of transactions came in April at $26.5 million, the third-highest month between the seams neighbors. Settlements in May and June pushed the three-month total to $50.6 million. Permanent and temporary flowgates were binding for 5,907 hours during the three months.
M2M settlements for the redispatch of market flows around congested flowgates have now been in SPP’s favor for 16 straight months and 31 of the last 33. The RTOs began the process in 2015.
“The weather wasn’t too crazy,” SPP’s Jack Williamson told SAG. “We’re constantly breaking new peak records all the time. We’re seeing more and more wind on the system.”
Staff also told the stakeholder group that it is developing its first emergency energy exchange agreement with another seams neighbor, Missouri-based Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. The joint operating agreement does not currently have provisions for energy exchanges during energy emergencies, but SPP has similar arrangements with SaskPower, MISO and Public Service Company of Colorado.
