Regional power pool helps keep the lights on

? Whenever people flip a switch on the wall, they expect the lights to come on. And unless there’s something wrong with the wiring or the light bulb, it almost always does.

But what many people don’t realize is that there’s much more involved in getting electricity into that light socket than simply running wires from the local power plant. What makes the light come on even when that power plant is down for maintenance is an organization that most people have never heard of, but one that could play a significant role when the Kansas Legislature reconvenes next month and begins debating the state’s energy policy.

The Southwest Power Pool, based in Little Rock, Ark., is an organization made up of dozens of utility companies and transmission companies stretching across nine states. Its job is to ensure the reliability of a vast, interconnected power grid 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Established in 1941, its original mission was part of the nation’s World War II effort. It connected 11 regional power companies to make sure an Arkansas aluminum factory was powered around the clock. After the war, the group’s leaders decided it should continue to maintain reliability and coordination.

Today, it’s one of 13 regional power pools that make up the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC.

“Essentially, it manages the reliable dispatch of electricity on the electric grid,” said SPP spokesman Tom Kleckner. “It manages the regional grid in our area with an eye on reliability, safety and public policy.”

It’s in that area of public policy where SPP is likely to be a key consideration in the upcoming legislative session.

Renewable energy policy

As a general rule, Kleckner said, SPP is not concerned about how electricity is generated. Its job is to make sure there is a sufficient flow of electricity, from whatever source, across a wide, regional and interconnected power grid.

That region includes all or parts of Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

But in the face of global climate change that’s being caused in large part by carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, Kansas and many other states, as well as the federal government, have enacted policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions from power plants.

In 2009, then-Gov. Mark Parkinson, a Democrat, signed a bill establishing a renewable portfolio standard, or RPS, requiring most utility companies to produce at least 20 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2020.

And at the federal level, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing a Clean Power Plan that would establish new limits for greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and require states to adopt plans to cut their emissions 30 percent by 2030.

Both of those policies are now coming under heavy political attack, especially in Topeka where Republicans and some industry groups want to roll back, or even repeal, the existing policy.

SPP’s role in Kansas

Supporters of wind energy say the RPS bill was important in developing that industry in Kansas, and SPP played a key role in the development of transmission lines that carry electricity from wind farms in central and western Kansas to urban centers that make up most of the demand.

“They (SPP) are the ones that establish the interconnections between the power companies and transmission companies so you can move power form western Kansas to Chicago,” said Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, who has been closely involved in utility and regulatory issues at both the state and federal levels.

A recent analysis by the Polsinelli law firm, which lobbies on behalf of energy industry clients, said the wind energy industry has created, either directly or indirectly, more than 10,000 jobs in Kansas and generates $26 million a year in lease payments to landowners and other economic activity.

Political opposition

But RPS laws have come under attack in Kansas and other states from conservative groups including the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, which has written model legislation to be introduced in statehouses to repeal what it calls renewable energy “mandates.”

The Kansas Senate passed such a bill in the 2014 session, but it was defeated in the House.

During the 2014 campaign, Gov. Sam Brownback said he would be willing to consider phasing out or repealing the RPS rule.

And the current chairman of the House Energy and Environment Committee, Rep. Dennis Hedke, R-Wichita, has been an outspoken critic of the science of climate change and the effects of carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

“Attempting to modify CO2 concentration with the goal of controlling Earth’s temperature is a futile effort that has no basis in good science and virtually zero chance of success,” Hedke wrote in a recent letter to editor of the Wichita Eagle.

SPP spokesman Kleckner said the power pool has no position on whether states should adopt RPS rules. But he said the power pool does have serious concerns about the proposed new EPA rules, which he said could force many older coal-fired plants to shut down before they can be replaced with cleaner-burning plants or renewable energy.

“If they were to take out all this generation we assume they’re taking out, we don’t have enough time to replace that infrastructure,” Kleckner said. “It takes about eight and a half years, using our process, to build an infrastructure project after it’s been proposed.”

SPP has formally asked EPA to modify or rescind its Clean Power Plan. The Kansas Corporation Commission has also expressed opposition.