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Oklo and Siemens Energy Sign Agreement to Accelerate Power Conversion System for New SMR in Idaho

LCG, November 19, 2025--Oklo Inc. and Siemens Energy announced today that the parties have signed a binding contract for the design and delivery of the power conversion system for Oklo’s Aurora-INL (Idaho National Laboratory) nuclear small modular reactor (SMR). The agreement authorizes Siemens Energy to begin engineering and design work to expedite procurement of long-lead components and to initiate the manufacturing process for the power conversion system. Oklo’s expertise in advanced fission technology will be combined with Siemens Energy’s extensive industry experience with steam turbine and generator systems, with the ultimate goal of generating carbon-free, reliable electricity.

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NERC's New Winter Reliability Assessment Raises Concerns for Elevated Risk of Insufficient Supplies to Meet Demand in Extreme Operating Conditions

LCG, November 19, 2025--NERC yesterday released its 2025–2026 Winter Reliability Assessment (WRA), which concludes "much of North America is again at an elevated risk of having insufficient energy supplies to meet demand in extreme operating conditions." The WRA does state that resources are adequate for normal winter peak demand, but extended, wide-area cold snaps will be challenging.

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Industry News

City of Austin Approves PPA for Texas Biomass Plant

LCG, August 29, 2008--The Austin City Council yesterday approved a 20-year, power purchase agreement (PPA) with Nacogdoches Power LLC for the electricity generated from a 100-MW facility fueled with biomass. The proposed facility is scheduled to commence operations in 2012.

The project, located in northwestern Nacogdoches County, will use a variety of wood wastes, including residues from forests and sawmills, as well as waste pallets and municipal wood waste. The facility will use a bubbling fluidized bed boiler to directly combust the wood wastes, together with a steam turbine for power generation. With respect to air emissions, the design includes a baghouse to control particulate emissions and a Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) system for NOx control. With respect to carbon emissions, biomass power generation is deemed carbon neutral.

Unlike wind and solar renewable resources that generate power only when the wind blows or the sun shines, the hour-to-hour generation from a biomass facility can be dispatched by the operator to meet changing load and market conditions.

Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) is discussing a similar project with Nacogdoches Power LLC that could be constructed at the existing Deerhaven Generating Station near Gainesville, Florida.

Earlier this week, Georgia Power submitted a request to the Georgia Public Service Commission for approval to convert an aging, coal-fired unit at its Mitchell Generating Plant in Georgia to use wood wastes. The modified unit would use a direct-fire, stoker technology for a design capacity of 96 MW.

These three projects show a rising interest in developing large-scale, electric generating facilities that are reliant solely upon biomass as the fuel.
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