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NuScale Power Achieves Standard Design Approval from NRC for 77 MW SMR

LCG, May 30, 2025--NuScale Power Corporation (NuScale), a leading provider of advanced small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear technology, yesterday announced that it has received design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its uprated 77 MW power modules. NuScale states that it remains the only SMR technology company with design approval from the NRC, and the company remains on track for deployment by 2030, with 50- and 77-MW SMR options.

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EIA Presents Analysis of California's Solar and Wind Power Curtailment Challenges

LCG, May 29, 2025--The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released an analysis yesterday showing that the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the grid operator for most of the state, is increasing its curtailment of the rapidly growing solar- and wind-powered generation facilities in order to balance electricity supply and demand, which is necessary to maintain a stable electric system.

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Industry News

Cal-ISO to Line Up Band-Aid Power for Next Summer

LCG, Oct. 5, 2000the governors of the California Independent System Operator yesterday sent the Cal-ISO staff in search of temporary peaking power to help the agency avoid the power crunches that threatened to force rolling blackouts all summer long this year.

Due to a strong economy fueled by a power-hungry high tech industry, and because regulatory fiddle-faddling has delayed the development of new power plants, the state's demand for electricity has outstripped its ability to produce power. It is estimated that Silicon Valley, in the southern San Francisco Bay Area, has a power demand that grows by 10 megawatts per day.

During this past summer, Cal-ISO was forced to declare an unprecedented 31 "stage two" power emergencies this past summer, and ask utilities to conserve power.

Yesterday's action by the ISO's Board of Governors will allow the purchase of up to $255 million worth of peaking generation. The projects under consideration amount to about 2,000 megawatts, after a preliminary evaluation based on environmental, economical and reliability considerations.

Patrick Dorinson, a spokesman for Cal-ISO, said "The board approved management to pursue agreements for temporary peaking power generators that would be used to maintain electric reliability during the summer months."

The ISO would have the right to call on the peaking power for up to 500 hours during the summer season, between June 1 and October 31, in exchange for a capacity payment. The ISO would require that the generation be scheduled in the forward markets as much as possible. An astonishing 25 percent of power purchases this past summer were made in the highly volatile spot market.

Owners of the units would be allowed to run the plants whenever they wished and participate in the markets on their own, so long as it did not interfere with Cal-ISO's ability to call on those plants when needed to ensure reliability.

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