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News
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LCG, March 205, 2025--The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) today announced it will soon be the first regional transmission organization (RTO) in the nation to provide full services in both the Eastern and Western Interconnections of the U.S. power grid. On March 20, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) unanimously approved Southwest Power Pool’s amended tariff that includes provisions that enable Western members to join the RTO. The expansion of the SPP RTO is scheduled to go live April 1, 2026.
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LCG, March 20, 2025 – LCG Consulting (LCG) has released a second edition of 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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Industry News
Geothermal Energy is Back on the Menu
LCG, March 12, 2025--Geothermal energy is resurfacing as a potential key element of America's energy future. The Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary highlighted next-generation geothermal energy as a future domestic source of reliable, 24x7 power supply to meet the growing demand for electricity in the U.S.
“This is just an awesome resource that’s under our feet. Let’s work together to better energize our country, improve quality of life, drive AI innovation, support manufacturing reshoring, and stop rising electricity prices,” the DOE Secretary stated recently.
"I'm encouraged that the Department of Energy has recognized natural gas, geothermal, and nuclear as priorities," said the Executive Director of the Hamm Institute for American Energy Geothermal at a geothermal roundtable at Oklahoma State University. "Geothermal has the potential to be another source of reliable energy and can be a tremendous asset to American economic security. Particularly as they can leverage the oil and natural gas industry's innovative drilling practices, technology, and skilled workforce."
Geothermal capacity in the U.S. today only totals approximately 4 GW, and it is primarily located in California and Nevada. The conventional hydrothermal technology used at these plants relies on wells that produce hot water or steam from naturally permeable reservoirs up to a few kilometers underground.
Next-generation geothermal technologies are not reliant on these unique, natural subsurface conditions but will use advanced drilling and reservoir engineering to extract geothermal heat from rock formations that do not naturally host hydrothermal reservoirs, thereby greatly expanding the areas where geothermal facilities could be developed.
The DOE, in its report entitled, "Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Next-Generation Geothermal Power," estimates that geothermal energy could provide 90 GW of capacity by 2050, and up to 300 GW depending on the development of storage capabilities and other emerging technologies.
Geothermal projects are beginning to emerge. For example, GE Vernova Inc., in collaboration with The Energy & Geoscience Institute at The University of Utah (EGI) and others, announced March 12 that they were shortlisted by U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to study how to utilize the nation's geothermal energy supply to increase our national security.
The collaboration will consider the designs of power plants at Department of Defense (DoD) installations and the development of business model for each project. The collaboration could provide utility-scale, 5-MW capacity, 24x7 resilient power at approximately 50 DoD sites in the western U.S. and along the western Gulf of America. The project studies include geothermal assessment expertise, drilling, power generation and project development, power conversion, battery energy storage systems (BESS) integration, and microgrid design and control.
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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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