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Avangrid and Puget Sound Energy Sign PPA, Including Upgrade and Life Extension, for Washington Wind Project

LCG, May 19, 2026--Avangrid, Inc., a member of the Iberdrola Group, today announced the signing of a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Puget Sound Energy (PSE) for the 199.5-MW Big Horn I wind project in Klickitat County, Washington. This agreement represents the fourth PPA executed by the two companies for projects in the Pacific Northwest.

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DOE Acts to Ensure Key Coal-fired Power Plants Are Available in MISO to Supply Peak Summer Demands

LCG, May 18, 2026--The U.S. Secretary of Energy today issued an emergency order to address critical grid reliability issues in the Midwest anticipated this summer. The order is in effect beginning on May 19, 2026, through August 16, 2026. The emergency order directs the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), in coordination with Consumers Energy, to ensure that the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant (Campbell Plant) in West Olive, Michigan shall take all steps necessary to remain available to operate and to minimize costs for the region.

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Industry News

California Flubbed Power Buys, Audit Says

LCG, Dec. 21, 2001--The rush early this year by California Gov. Gray Davis to "lock up" through long-term contracts with independent power producers sufficient electricity to meet the state's needs for a decade or more was described by critics at the time as a "long-term fix for a short-term problem."

It could turn out to be worse than that, according to a state audit released yesterday of the $43 billion portfolio of power contracts negotiated by the California Department of Water Resources.

While the audit recognizes that the state was a desperate buyer in a seller's market, it also notes that the CDWR negotiators were amateurs dealing with old pros -- lambs among wolves. Concessions made to power producers could result in the cost of the power exceeding the contracts by hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the report by state auditor Elaine Howle.

CDWR negotiators agreed to provisions in some of the contracts that would allow power producers to temporarily back out of their obligation to deliver electricity. They also agreed in several instances to pay power prices above those specified in the contracts in order to protect the power producers from certain cost increases such as tax increases, imposition of pollution penalties and new clean air laws and regulations.

Critics say those possible cost increases are risks ordinarily assumed by the seller.

"Although the department was in a weak bargaining position because of the financial crisis in the electricity markets, its rush to ease the electricity crisis by locking in power supply through long-term contracts weakened its position even further," the report said.

CDWR officials say the audit ignores the situation that existed when the contracts were negotiated last February and March. Rolling blackouts were a daily threat and spot market power prices were around $250 per megawatt-hour, far higher than the average of $69 per megawatt-hour called for in the contracts.

"It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback," said Thomas Hannigan, director of the water agency.

Once the CDWR started signing contracts it couldn't stop, complain some critics, and the audit bears them out, saying that the state bought too much power for Southern California for delivery in 2004.

The fact is, the state may not have needed to purchase any power at all. A year ago, there was an insufficiency of generation in California and customary imports from the hydroelectric-rich Pacific Northwest were not forthcoming because of a severe drought in that region. Several new power plants have been commissioned in California this year and spot market prices have dropped back to about $25 per megawatt-hour.

California Secretary of State Bill Jones, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, used the audit to scathe Davis yesterday. "Today's audit speaks volumes of the Davis administration's gross mismanagement of the power crisis, particularly with his decision to commit more than $42 billion of California taxpayer and ratepayer dollars to poorly negotiated long-term power deals," Jones told a Sacramento press conference.

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