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News
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LCG, August 14, 2024 – LCG Consulting (LCG) has released its annual outlook of the ERCOT wholesale electricity market for 2025, highlighting the region's rapid transition toward increased reliance on renewable energy resources and battery storage.
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LCG, August 14, 2024 – LCG Consulting (LCG) has released its annual outlook of the ERCOT wholesale electricity market for 2025, highlighting the region's rapid transition toward increased reliance on renewable energy resources and battery storage.
Read more
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Industry News
NRC Raises the Bar for Approving Nuclear License Extensions to 80 Years
LCG, February 28, 2022--The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week issued a 2-1 decision and agency orders that rescind the agency’s second license renewal (SLRs) of nuclear reactors that would extend the operating licenses from 60- to 80-year periods without first creating and applying an updated environmental analysis for reactor operations into the extension period. The NRC’s decision resulted from a legal challenge from environmental and consumer groups that argued for a full National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review prior to extending the operating licenses for another 20 years.
The NRC’s decision appears to require plant owners and the NRC staff to update their review to include a NEPA review for all reactors, including those that have been approved and those pending approval. This NEPA review may have a significant impact on the nation’s carbon-free, nuclear fleet. A number of SLRs for reactors had already received approval, including for North Anna Units 1 and 2; Peach Bottom Units 2 and 3; Oconee Units 1, 2 and 3; Point Beach Units 1 and 2; and Turkey Point Units 3 and 4.
The NRC last week informed NextEra affiliate Florida Power & Light (FPL) that its two Turkey Point nuclear reactors must go through a full environmental review before the agency will allow them to run for an additional 20 years. FPL received approval in December 2019 from the NRC for an SLR application filed in 2018 for Turkey Point Units 3 and 4. That approval was the first time the NRC issued renewed licenses authorizing reactor operation from 60 to 80 years. In March 2020, the NRC also approved the SLRs for Exelon Generation’s Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Units 2 and 3, which are located in Pennsylvania.
The NRC decision creates uncertainty on the SLR process. The extension of nuclear operating licenses from 60 to 80 years is an important strategy for both managing carbon emissions from the electric sector and providing year-round, 24x7, reliable electricity. Without SLRs, nuclear reactors would be limited to a 60-year life, and the U.S. nuclear capacity would decline from approximately 94,000 MW in 2030 to about 6,000 MW in 2050. The decline in nuclear capacity and generation could significantly impact the ability to achieve a reliable electric grid with net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The dissenting NRC Commissioner stated, “For the NRC to function as an effective and credible regulator, our stakeholders must be able to rely on our statements and positions. Such reliance is impossible when we may change our position at any time, based on nothing other than the information and arguments previously considered and rejected.”
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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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