SPP is proud to be honored recently by a peer group for excellence in innovations toward modernizing the power grid.

For the 2026 Summer Internship Program, SPP hosted 21 students from across the country for six weeks of learning, asking questions, team outings and of course, Fun Fridays.

At its headquarters in Little Rock, SPP was pleased to host a reporter recently from a news service in Japan, accompanied by two representatives of the Hitachi corporation, a valued partner of SPP.

SPP can now show its member utilities the greenhouse gas emissions behind their power supply — by source and by hour, drawn from SPP data.

After approving SPP’s innovative Consolidated Planning Process (CPP), members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) praised the measure as ushering in a streamlined way to add more capacity to the grid.

SPP is generating national attention through its innovative processes to connect large load customers to the grid. Allison Clements, a former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), was recently quoted in RTO Insider saying she’s impressed with SPP’s “proactive approach” in study and efficiency toward facilitating the build-out of large loads. “That helps to maintain affordability and reliability [while] still getting these data centers hooked up,” she

Raheem, SPP’s director of system planning, reporting to Casey Cathey, vice president of engineering, leads the development of the Integrated Transmission Plan (ITP) each year. The ITP is essential for ensuring the grid has the capability of handling and transferring power to meet the growing demand across SPP’s 17-state footprint.

Kris Raper’s career path took her from wrapping ankle monitors on parolees to being appointed by the governor of Idaho to the commission regulating electric utilities.

“It’s a little surreal,” said Johnson, SPP senior director of markets administration. “I’m super excited. Let’s get this thing on.”

Carrie Simpson, SPP’s vice president of markets, stressed that all energy market participants are on the same team when it comes to reliably and efficiently delivering electricity throughout the western United States.

A member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said watching how SPP does business is refreshing, especially given intense clashes ongoing in other areas of the country over electricity cost and transmission.

Two of SPP's very own, Cameron Murphy, Programmer-Developer I and Trey Davis, Engineer II have been named to the 2026 board of Create Little Rock.

SPP recently took part in a major economic development announcement by state of Arkansas, further demonstrating the value of SPP’s Markets+ initiative.

To close out 2025 and celebrate the dedication behind a remarkable year, SPP gathered for its annual Holiday and Employee Award Ceremony in December.

2025 was a banner year at SPP, featuring an infusion of bold leadership.

The electric industry and SPP's role is complex. Let's talk about it.

SPP welcomed 22 college students from across the country for the 2025 summer internship program. This highly sought after program begins in mid-May and ends in early August.

Years of collaboration among Southwest Power Pool (SPP) staff and stakeholders to accelerate and improve regional transmission planning culminated today with the SPP Board of Directors’ approval of the Consolidated Planning Process (CPP).

As the energy industry faces the daunting task of connecting and serving electricity-hungry AI data centers, grid operators must balance essential goals of reliability, affordability, and speed.

Natural leader Carrie Simpson leads SPP’s efforts to facilitate electricity trading in the West.