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Minnesota PUC Approves Operations Extension for Xcel Energy's Prairie Island Nuclear Plant

LCG, August 15, 2025--Xcel Energy announced that the company received state approval yesterday from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to extend operations of the Prairie Island nuclear plant through the early 2050s. Prairie Island has two units that have a combined generating capacity of 1,100 MW. The units’ current operating licenses expire in 2033 and 2034.

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PGE Announces Addition of 475 MW of Battery Energy Storage Systems to Improve Grid Reliability and Costs

LCG, August 7, 2025--Portland General Electric (PGE) today announced the completion of three, four-hour lithium-ion utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Oregon, adding 475 MW and more than 1.9 GWh of dispatchable capacity to serve the Portland metro area. Each of these BESS facilities can deliver power during peak demand or when other electric generating facilities are limited, which improves system flexibility, reliability and costs.

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Industry News

Puget to Keep its Low-cost Generation Assets

LCG, July 31, 2000--Puget Sound Energy will keep its 735 megawatt interest in the four Colstrip power plants in Montana rather than risk buying power in the volatile wholesale spot market, which it might have to do if it sold them as planned to a unit of PPL Inc.

Puget currently pays about $30 per megawatt-hour for Colstrips power, which supplies about a third of the electricity the utility needs to serve its base load. Prices on the two Northwest spot markets ranged from $110 to $330 per megawatt-hour on Friday.

The utility had agreed to sell its 50 percent interest in Colstrip Units 1 and 2 and its 25 percent interest in Units 3 and 4 to PPL Global Inc. for $555.9 million, but had been unable to reach agreement on a price for a long-term contract to continue receiving power from the plants.

Puget spokeswoman Dorothy Bracken said "As the wholesale markets for electricity began to rise, it became more difficult for PPL to offer power that would be economical for our customers."

News had reached the Pacific Northwest from San Diego, where the local utility had sold its power plants without making adequate provision for replacement power. Forced to go into the spot market to serve its customers, San Diego Gas & Electric Co. paid top dollar for power and passed the cost along to householders who saw their bills double as a result.

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