EnergyOnline
Services

RSS FEED

EnergyOnline.com rss

News

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.

Read more

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.

Read more

Industry News

Fires, Heat and Humidity Trigger Power Curtailment

LCG, Sept. 14, 2000Two wildfires burning near transmission line, a disappearing could cover that let in the sun and high humidity in the southern part of the state combined yesterday afternoon to cause the California Independent System Operator to declare a stage two electrical emergency and begin the process of curtailing power deliveries to large customers with interruptible contracts.

Yesterday's power demand in the state had been forecast to peak around 4:00 p.m. at 41,500 megawatts, but chances are it went higher because it was a hot, muggy day the kind that air-conditioners are made for. Making matters worse, a fire near Castaic, just north of Los Angeles, threatened transmission lines, making it harder to get power to where it was needed most.

Another fire, in the high Sierras east of Fresno, cut access to power that Cal-ISO was depending on to help maintain reliability on California's overloaded system.

Cal-ISO directed SoCal Edison to reduce its electrical load by 862 megawatts. To achieve this load reduction, the company is required to activate its voluntary load curtailment program, under which large industrial, commercial, and agricultural customers, as well as customers on SoCal Edison's air conditioner cycling program, agreed to have their power temporarily interrupted in exchange for reduced rates.

The curtailment measures are aimed at avoiding a stage three electric emergency, under which utilities would be directed to shed load through necessitating involuntary rolling, or rotating, outages for blocks of customers across their service areas until sufficient reserve levels are achieved.

"By all of us sticking together and cutting back power use as much as possible, we can get through this difficult period and possibly avoid a stage three emergency," Pam Bass, SoCal Edison's senior vice president for customer service, said.

Copyright © 2025 LCG Consulting. All rights reserved. Terms and Copyright
UPLAN-NPM
The Locational Marginal Price Model (LMP) Network Power Model
Uniform Storage Model
A Battery Simulation Model
UPLAN-ACE
Day Ahead and Real Time Market Simulation
UPLAN-G
The Gas Procurement and Competitive Analysis System
PLATO
Database of Plants, Loads, Assets, Transmission...
CAISO CRR Auctions
Monthly Price and Congestion Forecasting Service