PORTLAND, Ore. – Current participants in the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP) project a changing resource mix within the next five years, according to the proposed resource portfolios analyzed for the first non-binding phase of the WRAP. The modeling and its resulting set of metrics, including increasing required Planning Reserve Margins, underscore the importance of implementing the WRAP and provide additional context to the conversation about the tightening supply in the region.
The data were released today in a public webinar by the Western Power Pool (WPP) and the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), which serves as the Program Operator for the WRAP and plays a critical technical role in the program, including analytical calculations and modeling. The release follows the commitment the groups made to participants, regulators, and stakeholders to be transparent with the program’s modeling regional outputs and resulting resource adequacy metrics.
“We are designing a resource adequacy program for the West that places reliability as its first and highest priority, and this data will continue to inform our decision-making,” said WPP Director of Technology, Modeling, and Analytics Ryan Roy.
“We have stepped into a leadership role on matters of resource adequacy in the West and embrace the transparency that role requires,” Roy said. “This initial release of data is our first opportunity to provide insight into the forecasted loads and the reserve margins needed to accommodate the proposed resources of the current WRAP participants, and specifics about the WRAP’s standardized resource accreditation metrics. The modeling and calculations done by Southwest Power Pool are invaluable to the program.”
In addition to using this information to guide program design, individual WRAP participants will now use it to assess their own resource adequacy and compliance positions with the program – particularly the Qualifying Capacity Contribution and Effective Load Carrying Capability values for measuring resources, as well as the required Planning Reserve Margins. These calculations resulted from the modeling performed by SPP.
“Our goal is to bring innovative and reliable solutions to WRAP participants facing changes in resource mix and planning uncertainty,” said SPP Director of System Planning Casey Cathey. “Sharing this information enables more effective collaboration among stakeholders, advances the resource adequacy conversation in the west, and brings us closer to launching this vital program.”
Current WRAP participants are completing the non-binding Winter 2022-2023 and Summer 2023 forward-showing submittals using the just-released metrics as a guide to meet program requirements. Participants will turn in workbooks to SPP for evaluation and feedback. WPP and SPP intend to release aggregate performance information from these non-binding submittals once complete.
WPP officials urge caution about drawing definitive conclusions based on this early data. Importantly, the resources and loads are shown regionally in aggregate in order to protect individual participants’ commercially sensitive information; however, that has no bearing on whether any individual load-serving entity has sufficient capacity. In addition, these projections are specific to current participants and regions being modeled. Results will vary with changes to participants, their loads and resources, or to the WRAP tariff itself. Lastly, even though resources are modeled in the study, the capacity they provide cannot be assumed to be always available to WRAP participants due to planned and maintenance outages, other obligations outside of the program, or projections not being met.
About the WRAP: WPP is launching the WRAP, which is the first region-wide reliability planning and compliance program in the history of the West. With coordination and visibility across participants, the WRAP paints a more accurate, regional picture of resource needs and supply. It delivers a region-wide approach for assessing and addressing resource adequacy, taking advantage of operating efficiencies, diversity, and sharing of pooled resources. So far, 26 utilities from the northwest, parts of the desert southwest, Canada and northern California have joined WRAP’s non-binding phase.
About Southwest Power Pool: Southwest Power Pool, Inc. is a regional transmission organization: a not-for-profit corporation mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure reliable supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure and competitive wholesale electricity prices on behalf of its members. SPP manages the electric grid across 17 central and western U.S. states and provides energy services on a contract basis to customers in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections. The company’s headquarters are in Little Rock, Arkansas. Learn more at SPP.org.
Media contact:
For more information, contact
Western Resource Adequacy Program
Kevin Langbaum kevin@kblcommunications.com
Southwest Power Pool
Meghan Sever msever@spp.org