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News
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LCG, May 14, 2026--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it is proposing a rule to revise wastewater limits, known as effluent limitations guidelines (ELG), for steam electric power plants that will help improve grid reliability and lower electricity prices while continuing to support clean and safe water resources. If finalized, the EPA's proposal is estimated to reduce electricity generation costs by as much as $1.1 billion annually, which could provide cost-savings to American consumers.
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LCG, May 14, 2026--The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the selection of eight companies to support the near-term deployment of advanced light-water small modular reactors (SMRs) in the United States. The DOE states that awardees will collectively receive more than $94 million in Federal cost-shared funding to spur additional Gen III+ SMR deployments by addressing key gaps that have hindered the domestic nuclear industry in licensing, supply chain, and site preparation.
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Industry News
New Problem for Cal-ISO: Interruptible Contracts Used Up
LCG, Jan. 23, 2001The California Independent System Operator, whenever it calls a "Stage 2" electricity emergency, orders the state's investor-owned electric utilities to shed load by shutting off power to industrial customers who have signed interruptible contracts in exchange for lower prices.The move can reduce demand by almost 3,000 megawatts and help Cal-ISO avoid ordering rolling blackouts to protect California's shaky transmission grid. The agency declared more than 20 such emergencies last summer and since last fall has kept the state on what seems to be a perpetual Stage 2 alert.Interruptible contracts, it turns out, aren't forever. Companies that signed them didn't agree to send their workers home every day. Permanente Cement Co. on the San Francisco Peninsula, for example, can be asked to interrupt its electric service for only 100 hours per year, a mark that could be exceeded today.Yesterday, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. warned Cal-ISO that it has exhausted the entire allowance for the program in its service territory for this year. That includes most of Central and Northern California."Many times during this crisis, the interruptible program has made the difference between keepingthe lights on and having rotating outages," said Jeff Butler, a PG&E vice president. "Without these customers voluntarily serving as a buffer, the CAISO may have to implement the rotating block outage program much sooner if they are not able to buy enough power to meet the needs of our customers."PG&E has about 170 interruptible customers who can be asked to take 400 megawatts of demand off the grid under a stage 2. The problem will get worse as Southern California Edison Co. nears exhaustion of its interruptible allowances. It has something like 1,500 customers representing 1,200 megawatts of interruptible load. Figures from San Diego Gas & Electricity Co. were not available this morning.The state's power picture improved yesterday as some plants, shut down for repairs after last year's non-stop service, were put back to work. Cal-ISO said 7,600 megawatts of generation was still off line yesterday, but that was a vast improvement over last week when 10,500 megawatts was out of action. The Los Angeles Department of Water and power, the largest municipal utility in the U.S. and unaffected by California's power woes, has been helping Cal-ISO out by selling it surplus power at market rates. Yesterday, the LADWP furnished the state with 550 megawatts and this morning said it has up to 1,000 megawatts for sale today.
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UPLAN-NPM
The Locational Marginal Price Model (LMP) Network Power Model
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UPLAN-ACE
Day Ahead and Real Time Market Simulation
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UPLAN-G
The Gas Procurement and Competitive Analysis System
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PLATO
Database of Plants, Loads, Assets, Transmission...
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