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Natura Resources Announces Agreement with NGL Energy Partners to Develop 100-MW SMRs with Large-Scale Produced Water Treatment in the Permian Basin

LCG, February 4, 2026--Natura Resources LLC (Natura), a developer of advanced molten-salt nuclear reactors, announced yesterday that it has signed an agreement with NGL Water Solutions Permian LLC, a subsidiary of NGL Energy Partners LP (NGL), to pursue opportunities to combine Natura's advanced nuclear reactor technology with thermal desalination for power production and oil and gas produced water treatment. NGL transports, treats, recycles and disposes of more than 3 million barrels per day of produced and flowback water generated from crude oil and natural gas production in the Permian Basin.

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OPG Completes Darlington Nuclear Station Refurbishment Project Under Budget and Ahead of Schedule

LCG, February 2, 2026--Ontario Power Generation (OPG) announced today that construction on the four-unit Darlington Refurbishment project is now complete. Station staff are completing final testing, and the last unit is expected to return to service in the coming weeks. OPG stated that the overall project is currently four months ahead of schedule and $150 million under budget.

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Industry News

Surviving and ThrivingIn the RTO/ISO Environment

Dr. Rajat K. Deb, head of LCG Consulting and publisher of EnergyOnline Daily News, is author with some of his staff of an article, Surviving and Thriving in the RTO Revolution, appearing in the February 1 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly. He was asked to share some of his thoughts with our readers.

By Rajat K. Deb

LCG, Feb. 9, 2001-In Order 2000, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requires Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs), including for-profit Transcos and non-profit Independent System Operators, to meet a number of criteria in their design, implementation, and management of the transmission grid. But to survive and thrive, RTO must learn to do much more and with better tools attuned to the task.

On the surface, RTOs perform a concise list of transmission-related functions, assigned to them by the FERC. First, RTOs must to design and collect transmission tariffs. Second, RTOs must manage various functions of grid operations in the short term, such as congestion, ancillary services, loop flows, and OASIS the interface with the grid customer. At the same time, RTOs will take the lead in long-term planning for future grid design and construction. And finally, the RTO acts as the official regional transmission "czar," coordinating grid operations with other regions and overseeing the efficiency and fairness of regional markets.

Yet the real job of running an RTO may prove more complex. Consider the events of last year in California and the West, and the difficulties experienced by the California Independent System Operator. This experience suggests that the job of the RTO goes far beyond the managing the nominal transmission sector.

Like it or not, RTOs inevitably must engage in integrated resource planning. Of course, it is true that under a market-driven restructuring, the choice and manner of deployment of generation and transmission capacity represent separate business decisions. Yet, these two segments remain interdependent.

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