Press Releases
SPP Partners with Hitachi to Develop Advanced AI Solution
SANTA CLARA, Calif. and LITTLE ROCK, Ark., June 5, 2025 – Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501) and Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (SPP) today announced a strategic partnership to solve critical and imminent problems slowing the modernization of U.S. energy infrastructure. The partnership will produce an integrated AI-based solution that accelerates generator interconnection (GI) by reducing study analysis times by 80% while also informing faster, higher-quality decision-making by GI customers. This will markedly improve SPP’s ability to facilitate the addition of its 14-state region’s generating capacity to keep pace with increasing demand for electricity.
Read MoreSPP forecasts anticipate higher-than-normal summer temperatures, high likelihood of meeting regional demand for electricity
Southwest Power Pool (SPP), responsible for coordinating electric reliability in a 14-state area in the central United States, expects to have enough generation to meet energy demand despite higher regional temperatures this summer. SPP will present its summer reliability forecast during its bi-annual Seasonal Preparedness and Emergency Communications User Forum meeting May 19.
Read MoreSPP board approves expedited generation interconnection process to help meet regional resource adequacy
At its May 6 meeting, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) Board of Directors took action to preserve regional grid reliability by approving SPP’s proposed Expedited Resource Adequacy Study (ERAS). SPP developed ERAS in collaboration with its stakeholders and in response to an imminent and growing need to bring new generating resources online before the region’s generating capacity is outpaced by its electricity needs. ERAS is a one-time, expedited study process designed to significantly accelerate the addition of new generating resources to the grid.
Read MoreSPP board selects Transource to construct $72 million Oklahoma transmission project
Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) board of directors approved an industry expert panel (IEP) recommendation for Transource Oklahoma, LLC with Transource Energy, LLC to build the Mathewson-to-Redbud transmission project. The proposed 38.4 mile 345-kilovolt line from the Mathewson substation to the Redbud substation in Oklahoma will cost an estimated $72 million to construct and is expected to be completed in 2027. The board approved OGE Transmission, LLC with ITC Great Plains, LLC as the alternate builder.
Read MoreSPP’s Statement on the April 26 Load Shed Event in Northwest Louisiana
SPP is a grid operator responsible for maintaining electric reliability across a 14-state region in the central U.S., including SWEPCO’s service territory. On Saturday, April 26, SPP identified instability on the grid in the Northwest Louisiana area and directed SWEPCO to immediately reduce its electricity use by 140 MW to prevent more widespread impacts. This directive resulted in the immediate loss of power for approximately 30,000 customers, primarily in Caddo and Bossier Parish, for approximately six hours. Although this step mitigated the risk of cascading outages that would have resulted in the loss of approximately 2,000 MW, putting hundreds of thousands of customers in the dark for a longer period, SPP acknowledges and regrets the burden this preemptive action put on many of SWEPCO’s customers.
Read MoreMarkets+ funding agreement and funding mechanism receive FERC approval
Markets+ is SPP’s in-development day-ahead and real-time market that will serve entities in the Western Interconnection. Market development reached a significant milestone today when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved both the Markets+ Phase Two Funding Agreement and the mechanism for funding the market’s development. On April 18, FERC also accepted SPP’s clarifying edits to its Markets+ Tariff, which it unanimously approved earlier this year on January 16.
Read MoreSPP names Jim Gonzalez new senior director of seams and western services
Southwest Power Pool (SPP) has chosen Jim Gonzalez to serve as its new senior director of seams and western services, effective May 1. Gonzalez will lead the continued development of SPP’s electricity services in the Western Interconnection, filling the role Carrie Simpson vacated when she was named vice president of markets.
Read MoreSPP first RTO to operate in both interconnections with tariff approval
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP) will soon be the first regional transmission organization (RTO) in the U.S. to provide full services in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections of the nation’s power grid. On March 20, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) unanimously approved Southwest Power Pool’s amended tariff that includes provisions enabling Western members to join the RTO. The Commission’s approval paves the way for seven Western entities, all of whom are participants in SPP’s Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS) market today, to begin participating in SPP’s Integrated Marketplace, transmission planning, reliability coordination and other RTO services beginning in April 2026.
Read MoreSPP names Emily Pennel chief of staff
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. — Southwest Power Pool (SPP) has named Emily Pennel as chief of staff reporting to incoming president and chief executive officer Lanny Nickell, effective April 1.
Read MoreSPP names Carrie Simpson new Vice President of Markets
LITTLE ROCK, ARK. – Southwest Power Pool (SPP) has chosen Carrie Simpson to serve as Vice President of Markets, effective April 1. Simpson currently serves as SPP’s Senior Director of Seams and Western Services. She will fill the role vacated by Antoine Lucas, recently named SPP’s new chief operating officer (COO).
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