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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 to Review New Filings for Market-Based Rates

LCG, August 10, 2004--Last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued its Order on Rehearing that confirmed and clarified the new methodology to assess generation market power. For American Electric Power (AEP), Southern Company, and Entergy Corp., yesterday was the deadline to file the market power analysis using the new rules. AEP indicates that the company passes both market screens in the control areas to which AEP is directly connected, while Southern and Entergy both stated in filings that they will fail portions of the new test.

In the Order on Rehearing, the FERC stated, "Market-based rate authority is not a right. The Commission may grant such authority under the FPA only to applicants who demonstrably lack market power." Now the FERC must review the filings and determine how to proceed. At risk is the ability of each utility to sell wholesale electricity at market-based rates, rather than the incremental cost of generation.

The two screening tests analyze a market participant's total amount of uncommitted capacity available for wholesale sales in a market. The first screen is the pivotal supplier analysis, which examines a participant's generation market power during the peak hour of the year, and is based on a control areas annual peak demand. The hours leading up to that point are the most likely time that a participant will be a pivotal supplier.

The second screen is the wholesale market share analysis that examines the market share of a participant in all seasons. Both screens consider native load obligations, operating reserve requirements and other commitments of the participant's. If applicants pass both indicative screens, it is presumed that generation market power does not exist.

If the participant fails either screen, it is presumed that the generation market power exists, and the participant can then rebut the presumption with additional analyses. Alternatively, a participant may accept the presumption of market power and go directly to mitigation or inform the FERC it will adopt the default cost-base rates or propose other cost-base rates.

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