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Vistra to Install New Gas-Fired Units at Permian Basin Power Plant

LCG, September 30, 2025--Vistra Corp. announced yesterday that it will proceed with the next phase of its capital plan to support grid reliability in Texas. In 2024, Vistra identified over $1 billion worth of potential capital additions in generation capacity within the Texas ERCOT market by 2028 if market conditions were supportive. Now, with West Texas' growing power requirements, particularly the state's expanding oil and natural gas industries, Vistra reached a final investment decision and confirms it will build two new advanced natural gas-fired power units on-site at its Permian Basin Power Plant.

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ERCOT Announces New Grid Research, Innovation and Transformation (GRIT) Initiative

LCG, September 24, 2025--Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) yesterday announced its new initiative to increase its efforts to fully use and apply innovation and transformation through industry collaboration to best overcome the challenges and opportunities facing future grid operations. The new Grid Research, Innovation, and Transformation (GRIT) initiative will advance research and prototyping of emerging concepts and solutions to better understand the implications of rapid grid and technology evolution and position ERCOT to lead in the future energy landscape.

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Industry News

EPA May Drop 'New Source Review' for Power Plants

LCG, July 27, 2001Christine Todd Whitman, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, told a U.S. Senate committee yesterday the need to subject utilities to the federal Clean Air Act's "new source review" program could be replaced by new emissions standards.

The new source review program requires utilities to install anti-pollution upgrades when power plants are modified to increase their output. Utilities have complained that the EPA often looks on routine maintenance as significant upgrades requiring the review.

Last year, the EPA sued several utilities for allegedly violating the rule, prompting some, including American Electric Power Inc. and Southern Co. to fight the lawsuits, saying that the "upgrades" were simply routine maintenance projects.

Whitman said the EPA is drafting an alternative to the rules which would require generating plants to stay below national targets for nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide and mercury emissions.

"It's time to simplify the existing regulatory structure," Whitman told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. "We believe there could be significant regulatory relief for the utilities."

Whitman said the agency's proposed legislation, which could be introduced this fall, could result in lower emissions than the existing regulations. "What we're looking for here is legislation that would significantly clean up the air beyond what any of our current regulatory targets call for," she said following the hearing.

Under the existing new source review program, as it has been administered, utilities making what they consider ordinary repairs to their power plants sometimes find themselves faced with a lawsuit filed by the EPA claiming they have increased the output of their plants without making expensive emission reduction upgrades.

The rule has actually deterred some companies from installing anti-pollution equipment because of uncertainty about the way the work would be greeted by the agency, some companies have said.

Some members of the Environment and Public Works Committee agreed. "Investment will not come as long as this regulatory uncertainty hangs out there," said Sen. Robert Smith of New Hampshire, the top Republican on the committee. "The current mandates discourage innovation."

Whitman said the EPA expected to complete its review of the new source regulations by mid-August.

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