The CREPC Transmission Collaborative is wrapping up work on a cost allocation study, while another transmission expansion coalition study is behind schedule, staff said during the Western Interstate Energy Board’s annual meeting.
The Committee on Regional Electric Power Cooperation’s (CREPC) Transmission Collaborative (TC) is wrapping up work on a cost allocation study together with Energy Strategies, while another transmission expansion coalition study with the Western Power Pool is behind schedule, staff said during the Western Interstate Energy Board’s annual meeting on June 9.
Since the TC’s inception in 2024, the group’s primary focus has been working on a cost allocation study with Energy Strategies called the “State Exploration of Western Transmission Cost Allocation Frameworks,” Robin Arnold, WIEB’s director of state, federal and international affairs, said in a brief update.
Energy Strategies is “wrapping up work on that as we speak. We’ve received a lot of feedback through the TC on that study that’s helped inform what the final report will look like,” Arnold said.
The TC also is involved in the actionable transmission study under development by the Western Power Pool’s WestTEC. (See WestTEC Tx Study on Track Despite Delays.)
“This has been ongoing since we began the collaborative and will continue as long as that study is going,” Arnold said. “They’re a little behind schedule now, but we’ve been providing feedback as necessary wherever.”
The TC focuses on regional transmission issues by creating a space for CREPC members and staff “to collaborate on transmission coordination and development in the West through sharing viewpoints and information from the diversity of Western states and provinces,” according to WIEB’s website.
TC meetings mostly have been closed to outside stakeholders to give the “group a chance to learn about the issues and ask as many questions as they want to and just really talk amongst themselves on these various transmission issues,” Arnold said.
TC also has received updates from The Western Transmission Consortium (TWTC), a group focused on developing new ways to fund various projects. TWTC has identified a portfolio of projects in the Southwest for initial project curation and also is working on a study in the Pacific Northwest, according to Arnold.
