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Oklo and Siemens Energy Sign Agreement to Accelerate Power Conversion System for New SMR in Idaho

LCG, November 19, 2025--Oklo Inc. and Siemens Energy announced today that the parties have signed a binding contract for the design and delivery of the power conversion system for Oklo’s Aurora-INL (Idaho National Laboratory) nuclear small modular reactor (SMR). The agreement authorizes Siemens Energy to begin engineering and design work to expedite procurement of long-lead components and to initiate the manufacturing process for the power conversion system. Oklo’s expertise in advanced fission technology will be combined with Siemens Energy’s extensive industry experience with steam turbine and generator systems, with the ultimate goal of generating carbon-free, reliable electricity.

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NERC's New Winter Reliability Assessment Raises Concerns for Elevated Risk of Insufficient Supplies to Meet Demand in Extreme Operating Conditions

LCG, November 19, 2025--NERC yesterday released its 2025–2026 Winter Reliability Assessment (WRA), which concludes "much of North America is again at an elevated risk of having insufficient energy supplies to meet demand in extreme operating conditions." The WRA does state that resources are adequate for normal winter peak demand, but extended, wide-area cold snaps will be challenging.

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Industry News

PG&E Could Delay California Power Bonds

LCG, Aug. 16, 2001--With the California Public Utilities Commission set to decide a week from today on how to parcel out the proceeds from ratepayers' electric bills, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. has it will go to court to endure it gets its fair share.

Such a move by PG&E could delay the state's plans to issue $12.5 billion in bonds needed to repay the state for about $7 billion in power purchases already made and to fund future purchases.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides said a court test would likely cause the bond sale to miss an October 31 deadline.

It wouldn't be the first deadline the borrowing has missed. Early this year, Gov. Gray Davis "promised" that the bonds would be issued and the state treasury repaid for emergency power purchases not later than June 30.

PG&E said last week in a legal filing that any attempt "to divert revenues the utilities are lawfully entitled to recover for their generation-related costs is unlawful and will be challenged in court." The company was talking about protections under the U.S. Constitution against the "taking" of property.

Under California's failed electric deregulation law, the state's three investor-owned utilities were forced to pay market prices for wholesale power which they retailed to their customers at much lower rates frozen at 1997 levels -- less 10 percent for residential and small commercial customers.

Next Thursday, the CPUC is scheduled to decide how much of the revenues from customers electric bills should go to the state to back the bond issue and how much to the utilities to pay for past and ongoing power purchases.

PG&E spokesman Ron Low said the California Department of Water Resources, the agency responsible for purchasing power on behalf of the cash-strapped utilities, has been vague in stating its revenue requirements, and the very vagueness makes the utility uneasy.

"Are they going to try to reach into our pockets?" Low asked recently. "These are the kinds of questions we have been trying to get the Department of Water Resources to answer."

California has already borrowed $4.3 billion in the form of a "bridge loan" against proceeds from the bond sale. If the bond sale doesn't come off by the October 31 deadline, the interest on the bridge loan jumps from 4.14 percent to 7 percent.

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