SPP set a new record for the amount of wind energy in its resource output mix early Monday morning when it recorded a penetration level of 71.3%.
The new mark came at 3:15 a.m., when wind served 17,346 MW of the total 24,329-MW load, breaking the record of 68.8% on Oct 19. It also backed up Senior Vice President of Operations Bruce Rew’s 2018 prediction that SPP had a “good chance” of breaking the 70% threshold.
Rew was at it again during January’s governance meetings in Santa Fe, N.M.
“We predict wind will overtake coal as the region’s No. 1 energy source in 2021,” he said during SPP’s joint quarterly stakeholder meeting.
SPP currently has 22.5 GW of installed wind capacity, much of it on the plains of Oklahoma and Kansas. Rew told stakeholders that both states have recently seen multiple days when they produced more wind energy than was necessary to meet their load.
— Tom Kleckner
