Grid Reliability
Grid Investments Necessary
for Reliability
During Winter Storm Uri in February of 2021, the Cotton Electric system hit a historic peak level of electricity demand. For the first time in 80 years, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the independent, non-profit power grid operator for a 14-state region that includes Oklahoma, had to implement controlled, temporary service interruptions that affected our service territory to prevent widespread blackouts. The SPP footprint was affected again by record cold temperatures during Winter Storm Elliott the following year.
Following these events, the SPP published a report entitled “Our Generational Challenge: A Reliable Future for Electricity”. The report focuses on the multitude of factors that have attributed to how the demand for electricity is outpacing the supply from the existing generation fleet, resulting in increased reliability threats. The SPP and its 120 members, including our power provider Western Farmers Electric Cooperative, have made concerted efforts to address these issues to keep the lights on.
One action taken by SPP and its members was an increase to the winter-season planning reserve margin (PRM) from 16% to 36%. This means that our generation and transmission provider, WFEC, must have enough generating capacity to serve its peak consumption with at least 36% margin during the winter season.
Based upon the load of WFEC’s 21 distribution members, the reserve requirement will increase from 352 megawatts (MW) to 792 MW. Overall load growth is also occurring, requiring an additional 160 MW of generation over the next five years.
The SPP has also issued Notifications to Construct (NTC’s), which are formal directives to build approved transmission system upgrades to ensure that new generation can reliably reach consumers. The current estimated cost for NTC’s within WFEC’s footprint is $250 million.
These additional expenses and investments may increase power costs but are necessary to maintain reliability and deliverability to consumers. As your not-for-profit electric cooperatives, Cotton Electric and WFEC will continue to work together to provide safe, reliable service at a competitive price.
Jennifer Meason
Chief Executive Officer
