Another U.S. regional grid operator is proposing a process to fast-track connection agreements for power plants, a process aimed at heading off a looming shortage of generating capacity by the end of the decade.
Southwest Power Pool, which spans the wind-soaked corridor from Texas to the Canadian border, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week to approve its Expedited Resource Adequacy Study process to take effect in late July.
Little Rock, Arkansas-based SPP is the latest grid operator to accelerate power plant additions. FERC earlier this year approved a request from PJM Interconnection to do the same. More recently, FERC rejected a proposal from the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which plans to re-file a revised version next month.
The rationale for the requests by regional transmission operators is largely the same: legacy fossil fuel power plants are being shuttered and new renewable and natural gas-fired replacements are stuck in a traffic jam of projects waiting on studies for approval to plug into the bulk power grid.
