SPP accrued $21.65 million in market-to-market (M2M) settlements with MISO during August and September, pushing the total payments due SPP to an all-time high of $183.39 million.

Permanent and temporary flowgates were binding for more than 1,500 hours in August, resulting in $4.72 million in settlements favoring SPP. Settlements jumped to $16.92 million in September when congestion led to more than 1,700 binding hours on 56 permanent and temporary flowgates, SPP staff told the Seams Advisory Group (SAG) on Friday.

M2M settlements hit a record $51.49 million, in MISO’s favor, in February, thanks to Winter Storm Uri. Congestion played a heavy role in limiting the amount of energy MISO could share with its seams neighbor.

The process’ settlements have accrued to SPP during the seven months since February and for 22 of the last 24 months, eclipsing the high-water mark of more than $168 million in January.

M2M settlements have eclipsed the previous high set in January. | SPP

 

The RTOs resettled 15 operating days between August 2020 and June 2021 that resulted in a $477,982 adjustment in MISO’s favor. Staff said that the appropriate transmission reliability margin (TRM) was not applied to a flowgate in North Dakota during the annual TRM update. The TRM affects the firm flow entitlements (FFEs) used for settlement purposes, but the difference would not and did not influence dispatch.

The M2M process began in March 2015. The grid operators exchange settlements for redispatch based on the non-monitoring RTO’s market flow in relation to FFEs.

Staff also told the SAG that language changes in the joint operating agreements with MISO and Missouri-based Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) are undergoing legal review. SPP plans to file both JOA revisions with FERC at the same time.

The changes are related to interconnection queue priorities in the grid operators’ affected system studies.