Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Southwest Power Pool’s topology-optimization plan for reducing congestion through transmission reconfiguration.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a Southwest Power Pool plan to use topology optimization to reduce grid congestion. Topology optimization changes the configuration of existing transmission elements rather than referring to the construction of a new generating plant or data center.

The approach uses transmission reconfiguration to address constraints in the power network. The supplied source does not quantify expected Southwest Power Pool savings or identify the individual transmission facilities that could be reconfigured.

For comparison, Utility Dive reported that the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s power market had saved nearly $100 million during the year using a similar topology-reconfiguration approach. That figure applies to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, not to Southwest Power Pool’s newly approved plan.