Having concluded that renewable energy is “extremely unlikely” to be exported outside SPP’s footprint, staff have begun working on the Export Pricing Task Force’s final report for delivery in July.

SPP’s Sam Loudenslager said a market exists for renewable resources, but “rate stress” from building additional transmission and uncertainty that the energy would be deliverable led staff to its conclusion. He also pointed to the difficulties SPP has had in agreeing to joint transmission projects across its seam with MISO.

“It’s not impossible, but it’s difficult,” Loudenslager said.

SPP’s Michael Desselle, the task force’s staff secretary, pointed to a list of proposed market and operational improvements to address renewable resources and advocated for canceling the rest of the group’s scheduled meetings. Members objected, however, and the task force agreed to additional meetings before turning over the final report to the Strategic Planning Committee.

“I don’t think we’re done yet. We haven’t laid out anything that looks at the export issue itself,” said Marguerite Wagner, of independent transmission company ITC Holdings.

The group also discussed creating “national renewable resource areas” to enable wind exports to markets outside SPP and avoid placing the costs directly on the RTO’s members or ratepayers.

Referring to himself as a “big-picture guy,” Golden Spread Electric Cooperative’s Mike Wise, the group’s chair, asked whether the federal government should be involved, as it was in building the nation’s highway system following World War II. That would enable exporting resources outside SPP without the cost being paid directly by the RTO’s members or ratepayers, he said.

“We’re facing a problem because no one wants to pay for that transmission,” Wise said. “Renewable energy is really a national resource. Can this area be declared a national resource? Can we get … through Congress a transmission corridor to get to this resource? Is it necessary to have this sort of major dynamic funded and paid for by the federal government?”

Wise likened his proposal for “national renewable resource areas” to Texas’ Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, which facilitated the construction of $6.8 billion worth of infrastructure connecting West Texas wind farms with urban population centers to their east.

Oklahoma Gas & Electric’s Greg McAuley pointed out wind-energy transmission customers were the ones who invested in the CREZ lines.

“In our case, our customers can’t make use of the additional wind, at least not enough to justify significant additional investment,” he said. “It’s not clear to us how our customers would benefit from additional investment when they’re not going to be the ones using the power.”

The task force was chartered last August to establish equitable and “not unduly discriminatory prices” for exports and imports of the abundant variable energy resources in the SPP region. The RTO says it has 22 GW of renewable resources in its interconnection queue.

Since the year began, the group has discussed how other regions handle export issues and heard from representatives from Southern Co., Enel Green Power NA and Clean Line Energy Partners.

Seams Committee Approves Joint Project with AECI

The Seams Steering Committee on Friday approved a potential joint project with Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., sending it to the Markets and Operations Policy Committee and Board of Directors for final approval. Those groups will hold their regular quarterly meetings in April.

The project would include a new 345/161-kV transformer at AECI’s Morgan substation and an uprate of a related 161-kV line, both near Springfield, Mo.

The Morgan transformer was included in SPP’s 2017 Integrated Transmission Planning 10-Year assessment, which was approved by the MOPC and board in January. The project, valued at $9.2 million, is contingent on reaching a cost-allocation agreement with AECI.

The approval came in a special conference call, after members asked for more time during its during its March 8 meeting to evaluate the project. The vote received one abstention, from ITC Holdings. (See “AECI Joint Projects Move Forward,” SPP Briefs.)

— Tom Kleckner