News
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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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
DOE Selects BrightSource for $1.4 Billion Loan Guarantee
LCG, February 23, 2010--The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced yesterday conditional commitments for over $1.37 billion in loan guarantees under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to BrightSource Energy, Inc. to support the construction and start-up of a utility-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) complex in the Mojave Desert.
According to the DOE, the loan guarantee is conditioned on financial and environmental requirements BrightSource must meet before closing on the loan, including local, state and federal regulatory approvals. The Bureau of Land Management will continue leading a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review.
The Ivanpah Solar Power Complex will be built approximately 50 miles northwest of Needles, California, and about five miles from the California-Nevada border. The complex will consist of three solar fields and use thousands of heliostats, each with two mirrors that track the sun and focus the solar energy on a receptor atop a tower. When the sunlight hits the receptor, the water inside is heated and creates high temperature steam. The steam is then used in a conventional turbine to generate electricity. An air-cooling system will be used to convert the steam back into water in a closed-loop cycle designed to minimize water consumption. The total electric generating capacity will be 400 MW.
The site footprint was recently reduced from 4,000 acres to approximately 3,500 in order to reduce the impacts on rare plant species and the number of desert tortoises that will need to be relocated.
The first facility is scheduled to start construction in the latter half of this year, with electric generation to commence in 2012. The second facility is scheduled to commence commercial operations in mid-2013, with the third facility by the end of 2013. The project will be interconnected to the electricity grid via an upgraded SCE transmission line.
The power from the facilities will be sold under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison Company (SCE). PG&E will purchase approximately two-thirds of the power generated at Ivanpah, and SCE will purchase approximately one-third.
California passed a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program that requires utilities like PG&E and SCE to increase their electric supply procurement of eligible renewable generating resources by one percent of load per year. In September 2009, the Governor signed an Executive Order that increased the requirement to 33 percent by 2020 and that now applies to all utilities, including publicly-owned municipal utilities.
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UPLAN-NPM
The Locational Marginal Price Model (LMP) Network Power Model
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UPLAN-ACE
Day Ahead and Real Time Market Simulation
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UPLAN-G
The Gas Procurement and Competitive Analysis System
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PLATO
Database of Plants, Loads, Assets, Transmission...
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