Southwest Power Pool
| Company type | Nonprofit organization |
|---|---|
| Industry | Electric power transmission |
| Founded | December 14, 1941 |
| Headquarters | Little Rock, Arkansas , United States |
Area served | Central United States (14 states) |
| Products | Electric grid management, wholesale electricity market operation |
Southwest Power Pool (SPP) oversees the management of the electric grid and wholesale electricity market throughout the central region of the United States. Functioning as a regional transmission organization, this nonprofit entity operates under the authority of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, tasked with guaranteeing a dependable power supply, adequate transmission infrastructure, and competitive pricing in the wholesale electricity sector. Together with its members, SPP coordinates electricity transmission along nearly 60,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines that extend across 14 states. The organization's headquarters are located in Little Rock, Arkansas.
History
SPP's origins trace back to World War II when Arkansas experienced a surge in aluminum production for aircraft manufacturing, which demanded more electric power than the state's total generation capacity could provide. The Defense Plant Corporation established a facility in Jones Mill, Arkansas, requiring a continuous supply of 120 megawatts (MW), surpassing Arkansas's peak generation capacity of 100 MW. Faced with limited options to construct new generation facilities, utility leaders from surrounding regions collaborated to maintain system reliability during wartime. This cooperative effort resulted in the creation of Southwest Power Pool on December 14, 1941, when 11 utilities entered into an inter-company agreement. Founding participants included subsidiaries affiliated with Entergy, American Electric Power, and other regional utilities.
Significant milestones in SPP’s evolution include:
1968 - Named NERC Regional Council 1980 - Deployed telecommunications network 1991 - Initiated operating reserve sharing program 1994 - Formed as a nonprofit corporation 1997 - Commenced reliability coordination functions 1998 - Began administering tariffs 2004 - Recognized by FERC as a Regional Transmission Organization 2007 - Introduced Energy Imbalance Service (EIS) market 2009 - Incorporated utilities from Nebraska 2010 - FERC approved cost allocation framework and Integrated Transmission Planning Process 2012 - Moved to new Corporate Center facility 2014 - Launched Integrated Marketplace; assumed role as regional balancing authority 2015 - Integrated System became part of SPP 2018 - Ceased operation as a regional entity 2019 - Started providing western reliability coordination services 2021 - Rolled out Western Energy Imbalance Services (WEIS) market
Members and company status
Established as a nonprofit organization in 1994, SPP was designated a Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) by the FERC in 2004.
Operating within the Eastern Interconnection across the central Southern United States, SPP’s service territory encompasses all of Kansas and Oklahoma, along with portions of New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, and Nebraska. Its membership base includes investor-owned utilities, municipal systems, generation and transmission cooperatives, state agencies, independent power producers, and power marketers. SPP manages multiple high-voltage direct current (DC) connections that link the Eastern Interconnection with the Western Interconnection and maintains DC ties to ERCOT (Texas Interconnection).
Since 2019, SPP has extended its operations into the Western Interconnection region, covering states such as Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, Montana, and Utah. Additionally, it is developing an Energy Imbalance Service Market for the West to improve efficiency within regional electricity markets.