Future participants in SPP’s RTO expansion into the Western Interconnection have affirmed their support to meet the April 1 go-live deadline with a unanimous vote of support.

Faced with the same demand from data centers and crypto miners as other grid operators, SPP responded by putting together a 30-person team to come up with a process to interconnect the large loads.

SPP stakeholders have overwhelmingly endorsed a conditional interconnection process for large loads that will be paired with two other FERC-approved processes.

SPP has hired former Idaho commissioner Kristine Raper as its senior director of state regulatory policy for the West.

Black Hills Colorado Electric has filed an application with Colorado regulators to join SPP's Markets+, saying it has no choice because it is embedded in a balancing authority that will be a Markets+ participant.

SPP has opened an office in Denver, giving it a physical presence in the Western Interconnection as it seeks to open two different markets in the West.