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SPP and Member Utilities Successfully Achieve Western Expansion Milestone

LCG, April 2, 2026--Southwest Power Pool (SPP) today announced that the expansion of its service territory into the Western Interconnection has been a success. The milestone makes SPP the first regional transmission organization (RTO) with services spanning the Eastern and Western Interconnections. Its member organizations, which cover all or part of 17 states, can now benefit from a more operationally and geographically diverse integrated system.

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Holtec Achieves Milestone towards Restarting Palisades Nuclear Facility and Advances Plans to Build Two SMRs at Palisades Site

LCG, March 31, 2026--Holtec International yesterday announced that it successfully completed a milestone test necessary to return Holtec's Palisades Nuclear Generating Station to service. The 805-MW pressurized water reactor (PWR) is located in Michigan and was shut down by Entergy in May 2022. Holtec acquired the facility in June 2022 and has pursued a path to return the plant to service.

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Industry News

FERC Asked to Ease Caps on Northwest Power Prices

LCG, Aug. 31, 2001--A power planning group formed by the governors of four states in the Pacific Northwest has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to relax their price caps on electricity because of concern that the controls could restrict power supplies this winter.

The Northwest Power Planning Council says FERC's pricing formula, imposed in June on 11 states in the West, is based solely on the cost of producing power in California, which has little relevance for Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

In California, peak demand occurs during the summer when air conditioners are fighting a hot climate and drops during the clement winters. The situation is just the opposite in the Northwest, where many homes are heated by electricity and the winters are cold.

The council fears that FERC's pricing formula could keep prices artificially low in the Northwest and deter power producers from selling electricity into the regional market, just when it's needed most.

The council recommended several changes to FERC's rule, including one that would base power prices on the cost of production, and voted 6-2 to file the petition with FERC.

Another of the recommendations would require power producers in California to sell electricity into the four Northwestern states -- the reverse of Clinton administration rulings when the Department of Energy ordered Northwestern power producers to sell power to California during that state's energy emergencies last fall.

Those sales resulted in power shortages in the Northwest and higher prices for consumers in the four states.

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