Southwest Power Pool Selects GridUnity for Interconnection Life Cycle Management
GridUnity will provide an end-to-end management solution for all interconnection applications, cluster study management, and infrastructure coordination
Boston, Mass, February 26, 2024 – GridUnity®, a pioneer in cloud-based interconnection and energy analytics for utilities and transmission service providers, announced that Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) serving the central U.S., has selected their Interconnection Life Cycle Management (ILCM) platform to improve speed, transparency, and data management for all generation interconnections. SPP ensures the reliable supply of power, adequate transmission infrastructure, and competitive wholesale electricity prices for a 552,000-square-mile region across seventeen U.S. states.
The GridUnity cloud solution runs on AWS and is architected to foster the collaboration among grid stakeholders required to streamline communication, support transparent processes, track activity commitments, and ensure accountability for the end-to-end interconnection life cycle. The ability for developers, grid service providers, and grid infrastructure contractors to share data and documents and to agree on milestones and timelines on a single platform accelerates the interconnection process and reduces the backlog. This platform includes multiple groups within each organization as well as third party contractors that are used to augment and support components of the interconnection process.
The GridUnity SaaS solution automates information collection and validation, ensures data accuracy, and accelerates collaboration by supporting grid impact analysis and network cost estimates, managing allocation procedures and payments, tracking cluster queue decisions and interconnection agreements, and maintaining documentation throughout the commercial operation of the resource.
“GridUnity is using AWS to help scale and innovate cloud-based software that helps bring more renewable energy resources to the grid with enhanced security and network reliability,” said Howard Gefen, General Manager – Energy & Utilities, AWS. “We are pleased to help GridUnity to support the acceleration of SPP’s renewable interconnection process.”
“We are thrilled to help Southwest Power Pool and its members drive industry innovation by deploying our proven ILCM solution,” said Brian Fitzsimons, GridUnity CEO. “AWS offers great scalability and enables us to provide increasing levels of service to our customers. We are excited to address the challenges of transitioning to a low-carbon electric grid by delivering an end-to-end solution that makes it easier for ISOs and RTOs like SPP to manage their existing resources and plan for a rapid grid transition while continuing to deliver the safety and reliability their customers and regulators expect.”
About GridUnity
GridUnity® is a pioneer in cloud-based interconnection and energy analytics solutions. With advanced grid planning and operations capabilities, the company is leading the global shift toward highly reliable and responsive renewable and distributed energy resources. GridUnity is the only solution that integrates customer engagement, engineering automation and system planning in one unified platform, enabling clients to transform their customer service and operational model. Clients include North American investor-owned utilities and independent system operators serving 37 U.S. states and 40% of the U.S. population. For more information, please visit gridunity.com and for the latest news, follow @GridUnity on Twitter or LinkedIn.