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.

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.

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.