Historic Support to Expedite New Power to Southwest Power Pool

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission unanimously approved the Southwest Power Pool’s innovative proposal to transform its siloed interconnection and transmission processes, which will accelerate the timeline for building new power generation while reducing costs to consumers. The proposal—called the Consolidated Planning Process or CPP—received broad support from diverse stakeholders during the policy development process and before FERC, including from Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council that can be found here.

The Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) legacy process, like those of other grid operators across the country, resulted in 60 percent of proposed power generation projects being cancelled due to a cumbersome, time-consuming, and expensive process. The siloed interconnection process was undermined by excessive delays and multiple restudies; projects were regularly buffeted by yearslong wait times and unpredictable interconnection costs, all of which helped lead to 552 active projects—representing 130 gigawatts of new power generation—stuck waiting in line. The CPP addresses these obstacles by consolidating SPP’s separate interconnection and transmission planning processes into a single, unified framework.

The environmental advocates’ filing also notes, “The historic level of consensus achieved through the stakeholder process also underscores the value of engaging in a robust, meaningful and inclusive engagement process, setting a high standard for future SPP policy initiatives.”

“Today’s decision places SPP at the forefront of ongoing efforts across the country to address over-burdened resource interconnection queues that have held back the clean energy transition our country so desperately needs for over a decade,” said Greg Wannier, Sierra Club Senior Attorney. “As with any major policy innovation, the devil will be in the implementation details – but we applaud SPP’s and FERC’s forward thinking here, and look forward to working with SPP staff and other stakeholders to ensure CPP brings new resources online to meet the challenge of the next decade. CPP is a game changer, and we encourage other grid operators across the country to take note as this process moves forward.”

“The CPP represents a major leap forward in how generation and transmission planning are approached at the RTO level. By breaking down siloed processes, CPP will cut years of wait time to get clean energy on to the power grid and ensure transmission planning drives optimal, long-term, high-value transmission projects,” said Annie Minondo, sustainable FERC Project advocate at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). “As SPP moves towards implementation, we urge them to stay focused on getting this right so the region’s consumers can reap the promised benefits.” 

A few key aspects of the CPP is that the interconnection study process will combine Phases One and Two of the previous process, which took a minimum of 12 months, into a single, 180-day study. It also establishes a regional, long-term generation expansion plan and a set of pre-planned locations where transmission capacity will be available to accommodate new interconnection requests, thereby providing interconnection customers with clear signals regarding which locations are optimal from a transmission capacity perspective. CPP shifts the transmission study process from a framework that attempts to predict possible future resource expansion to a framework that proactively plans for optimal resource expansion.

About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.

About NRDC

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).