Southwest Power Pool (SPP), a 14-state regional transmission organization and regional electricity market, concluded generation and transmission reliability needed to improve following Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.
For Western Farmers Electric Cooperative (WFEC), a not-for-profit, wholesale power supplier for Alfalfa Electric Cooperative and 20 other distribution cooperatives, and a member of the SPP, this meant a need for more generation of all types — coal, natural gas, wind, nuclear and solar —, plus increased transmission capability for our region.
To accomplish that goal, the SPP and its members did two things:
- Increased the winter season reserve margin, which is the amount of excess generating capacity above the expected peak demand, from 16% to 36% and strengthened the way generation capacity is calculated.
- Began authorizing construction of more transmission or improvements to existing transmission to make sure that new generation could reach loads.
How did these two decisions impact WFEC? Based on the load of WFEC’s distribution members, reserves were required to increase from 352 megawatts (MW) to 792 MW, an increase of 440 MW of generation to improve reliability in the region during extreme weather conditions. WFEC members’ load is also growing, and an additional 160 MW of generation is necessary to serve normal load growth over the next five to six years.
At the same time, WFEC was issued Notices to Construct (NTCs) for various transmission projects with a total cost of over $250 million. These additional expenses and investments in reliability and capacity may increase rates but are necessary to maintain reliable and deliverable power to consumers.
“As your electric provider, we are doing everything possible to minimize the impacts of those future challenges that will help ensure WFEC and its cooperatives can continue to provide reliable service at a competitive price,” said Gary Roulet, WFEC CEO.
For additional information, please visit www.wfec.com.