SPP says it is on track to go live as scheduled with the new gas-day timeline in October and enhanced combined cycle (ECC) software in March.

Testing on SPP’s gas-day system began Aug. 1 and concludes Aug. 29.

The first operating day will be Oct. 1, when participants must submit bids and offers by 9:30 a.m. instead of 11 a.m. SPP requested a one-day extension of the first operating day from Sept. 30, which FERC granted last week.

“There’s no real system changes for members,” Jodi Woods, SPP’s day-ahead market manager, told the Gas Electric Coordination Task Force last week. “We’re using this opportunity to go through the processes and make sure they can meet their deadlines.”

The gas-day timeline changes are a result of FERC Order 809, which moved the RTO’s timely nomination cycle deadline for gas supplies to 1 p.m. CT from 11:30 a.m. and added a third intraday nomination cycle.

Last July, SPP’s Board of Directors approved timeline changes that post day-ahead market results at 2 p.m. CT, up from 4 p.m., and shorten the reoffer period to 45 minutes, with reliability unit commitment offers due at 2:45 p.m. and results posted by 5:15 p.m. (See “Board Approves Gas-Electric Timeline Change,” SPP BoD/Members Committee Briefs.)

Enhanced Combined Cycle Project

Testing the enhanced combined cycle (ECC) project’s software, which involves more than a dozen systems and interfaces, is scheduled to begin in December, with a projected March 1, 2017 go-live date. The project is expected to provide more sophisticated modeling to capture combined-cycle plants’ flexibility.

The two projects have an estimated implementation cost of $7.7 million, the bulk of which is related to the more complicated ECC software.

Task Force Suggests Minimum Threshold for Competitive Projects

The Competitive Transmission Process Task Force last week made official its support for a minimum threshold for competitive projects under FERC’s Order 1000. However, the group rejected the idea of instituting a $2.5 million threshold, asking staff to return with additional analysis before its next meeting Wednesday.

The threshold was one of five issues the task force was assigned to study by the Strategic Planning Committee.

The SPC directed the group to base any process improvements on lowering costs for the end customer — rather than simplifying the process for staff — and to report back with recommendations in October.

MISO currently has a $5 million threshold for market-efficiency projects and a $20 million hurdle for its multi-value projects. An SPP staff review of more than 300 highway/byway high-priority projects dating from 2010 found that only 34 projects receiving notices-to-construct (NTC) had costs under $10 million, with 18 under $5 million.

The task force is also considering whether to: seat the industry panel evaluating competitive bids earlier in the solicitation process; develop a region-wide formula rate; report proposal costs as an incremental cost or as an average for each respondent; and move from the current competitive model to a sponsorship model.

The task force also approved developing Tariff language that allows for the re-study of approved competitive projects before an NTC is issued. The action was a result of last month’s cancellation of SPP’s first competitive project under Order 1000.  (See SPP Cancels First Competitive Tx Project, Citing Falling Demand Projections.)

MOPC Fills Out Z2 Task Force

On Friday, the Markets and Operations Policy Committee (MOPC) closed its solicitation for members interested in participating on a task force to address unresolved issues concerning the Z2 crediting process.

The Board of Directors created the task force last month to address complaints of members being charged for costs that were not identified in service agreements after declining to address the members’ waiver requests. (See Board Approves Z2 Timeline Extension, Creates Task Force for Further Study.)

Bruce Rew, SPP’s vice president of operations, told members the task force would review the waiver requests, with the intention of “expeditiously” conducting a study and finding an “acceptable solution” before the October MOPC and board meetings. Rew said the full scope of work is still being developed, but the group may also be asked to work on improving the Z2 payment process.

The task force is expected to be “highly engaged” for at least six months, Rew said.

– Tom Kleckner