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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 Updates 'New Source Review' Rules

LCG, June 13, 2002--The White House said today that the EPA will issue revised rules concerning the installation of emission controls for power plants that are upgraded or expanded.

EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said of the rules, "The need for reform is clear and has broad-based support." The rules were strongly favored by a range of utility and industry groups, who have complained that rules under the EPA's New Source Review program, started during the Clinton administration, have been unclear, leading to inconsistencies in enforcement.

Controversy has surrounded which repairs to a plant represent maintenance under the program, and which mean a change in the plant's size or operating characteristics. According to Whitman, "Our review clearly established that some aspects of the New Source Review program have deterred companies from implementing projects that would increase energy efficiency and decrease air pollution."

Under the New Source Review program of the last 10 years, an analysis was required before repairs could be classified as "routine," and therefore would not trigger the need for emission controls. Refineries as well as generating facilities may see improvements in reliability and efficiency as repairs pick up in frequency, another EPA official said.

Strongly negative reactions to the Bush administration announcement came from environmental groups and some Democratic legislators, including the majority leader, Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D. Some are concerned that coal plants in the Midwest will cause more serious air pollution in the Northeast under the revised rules.

Philip Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, said that the EPA "has no calculations on increased pollution or public health impacts." Clapp said that the new rules will cause most repairs to be considered routine. "You can do anything but tear the plant down and keep your exemption, so these plants will never be cleaned up," he said.

The rules allow baseline emission allowance standards to be calculated based on any consecutive 24-month period in the past 10 years. This may mean that some power plants will be able to produce more power than they have recently, without running up against emission limits.
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