SPP said June 3 it expects to have enough generation to meet energy demand despite higher regional temperatures this summer, sharing the same message it did earlier with stakeholders.
Staff speaking at the RTO’s biannual Emergency Communications User Forum on May 21 said SPP’s biannual seasonal assessment showed the grid operator has a 90% probability of being equipped to serve all loads during summer peak usage hours. The assessment indicates summer operations should be normal with no extreme operational situations.
Meteorological models predict a 33 to 50% chance of above-normal temperatures this summer at varying levels in the 14-state SPP footprint. Similar percentages exist for below-normal rainfall in its region, the RTO said.
“While we anticipate no major concerns this summer, we are prepared for any circumstance,” SPP’s Bruce Rew, senior vice president of operations, said in a press release. He added the RTO is confident “in our ability to keep the lights” on despite a forecast of higher-than-normal temperatures.
SPP says it has the systems, tools and procedures in place to mitigate risks and maintain reliability should extreme weather, unexpected outages or other events affect the region. It can call on generating units to commit to run earlier or more often than usual, delay planned outages, import energy from neighboring systems or tap into available reserves.
NERC’s 2024 Summer Reliability Assessment found SPP will have sufficient operating reserves this summer. It projects peak demand could hit 56.32 GW and estimates an anticipated reserve margin of 27.8%. The RTO set an all-time coincident peak of 56.84 GW last August.
SPP has over 101 GW of nameplate capacity. It had 62.16 GW of accredited capacity last year.
