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Southwest Power Pool Board Approves New Process to Accelerate High Impact Large Load Connections

LCG, September 16, 2025--Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) Board of Directors today announced that the Board approved a process to facilitate the connection of large users of electricity to the power grid while continuing to support energy needs for the entire region. SPP's new process is designed to incorporate transmission service, generation, load interconnection and other relevant reliability studies into a single framework that enables timely, informed decision-making and action.

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Longroad Energy Announces Financial Close of 1000 Mile Solar Project in Texas

LCG, September 15, 2025--Longroad Energy announced today the financial close of 1000 Mile Solar, its 300 MWac (400 MWdc) solar project in Yoakum County, Texas. Longroad Energy finalized a long-term offtake agreement with Meta late last year in the form of an Environmental Attributes Purchase Agreement, which includes a financial settlement arrangement for the entire energy output of 1000 Mile Solar.

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Industry News

LBL Scientists Complete Fuel Cell

LCG, November 21, 2002-Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley Labs (LBL) have developed a fuel cell that they say can operate as cheaply as gas turbines.

Steve Visco, Craig Jacobson, and Lutgard De Jonghe, of the Materials Science division of LBL, designed the fuel cell from ceramic materials with metal electrodes.

The Solid Oxide Fuel cells operate by reacting oxygen and hydrocarbons, such as methane, within the ceramic cell. The process differs from burning hydrocarbons in that energy is extracted from the movement of ions through an electrolytic membrane and supports several reactions. Oxygen ions react with hydrogen from the fuel gas, forming water. The water then reacts with the fuel to form carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The cell, operating at about 800 degrees Celsius, has an anodic-cathodic configuration, causing electrons produced by the reactions to flow from anode to cathode via an external load.

Fuel cells can be kept small while retaining an efficiency rating of 50 percent, making them a viable alternative to mass electricity production and transmission. They also produce much cleaner electricity than does the burning fuels. However, carbon dioxide is still produced, and the cells do require some type of fuel to operate.

Raw materials for the cells cost $37 per kilowatt. The researchers estimate that other costs, such as insulation and DC-AC converters, will limit the cost of the cell to $130 per kilowatt if they want to stay within the target cost set by the Department of Energy of $400 per kilowatt.

As yet unaccounted for costs apply to creating a stack of fuel cells, which researchers are confident can be made within their allowance. The stacked configuration will maximize voltage output and form a small generator.

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