SPP Predicts Massive Energy Growth Across Oklahoma
Leaders of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), which operates the grid covering Oklahoma, Kansas, and more than 20 other states, expect a stunning 96% rise in energy demand within the next decade. They also praised a new ruling from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that will help utilities study power supply for expanding data centers and new industrial projects.
Federal Decision Impacts Oklahoma’s Energy Future
As SPP plans for new generation projects, including those before Oklahoma regulators, it responded positively to FERC’s ruling allowing regional grids to revise how they process new generation requests. The change helps address increasing demand from data centers and manufacturing operations in the state.
According to the Kansas Reflector, SPP explained that the previous rules forced transmission customers to prove they had enough resources to serve both existing and new load requests. That policy limited the ability to plan for expected energy growth.
With FERC’s new decision, SPP can now study load increases even when customers lack the resources to meet future needs. In its filing, SPP stated, “SPP explains that it is experiencing increased requests for load additions, which are partially driven by large load additions such as data centers and industrial load.” The organization added that many transmission customers “have been unable to demonstrate sufficient existing Designated Resources to serve their 10-year load forecasts,” which previously prevented SPP from studying their requests.
Anticipating Oklahoma’s Energy Expansion
“Predictions are difficult,” said Casey Cathey, SPP vice president of engineering, in an interview with the Kansas Reflector.
“I’ve worked in the industry just over two decades, and when I first started, we were excited by 1% load growth year over year. The latest load forecast and demand forecasts we’re seeing 10 years out are over 75% (load increase) at peak levels.”
That forecast formed the foundation of SPP’s case to FERC.
Provisional Load Process to Help Growth
SPP argued that its new “Provisional Load Process” is fair and necessary. The process gives transmission customers a way to have new load additions studied using planned generation resources not yet online. SPP noted that this process allows planners to analyze the effects of proposed power projects before they go into service, giving customers valuable insight into how to meet their future energy needs.
Utility Dive reported that FERC’s decision directly affects this process. The ruling allows SPP to evaluate future data centers and industrial sites “even when there isn’t available power to serve the new facilities.”
SPP has struggled to study some requests because customers lacked power supplies to cover their 10-year load forecasts, a key requirement under previous grid rules. The June 4 proposal to FERC aimed to remove that barrier—helping ensure Oklahoma’s grid remains reliable amid massive economic and industrial expansion.
SOURCE: Kansas Reflector
Rewritten by Oklahoma Energy Today for clarity
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