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Qcells and Nofar USA Sign Agreement to Develop Energy Storage Projects in Texas

LCG, March 26, 2025--Qcells USA Corp. (Qcells), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hanwha Qcells, and Nofar USA (Nofar), a wholly owned subsidiary of Nofar Energy, recently announced a signed agreement to cooperate on the development and construction of two energy storage projects in Texas. The projects have a combined capacity of 350 MW with a 2-hour duration (700 MWh).

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SPP Receives FERC Approval to be First RTO Operating in Both Eastern and Western Interconnections

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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Industry News

Western Resources, PNM Break Off Merger Talks

LCG, Aug. 14, 2001--Public Service Co. of New Mexico announced that talks with Western Resources Inc. on their proposed $4.4 billion agreement have broken off, but added that the deal isn't dead and the companies will try to resolve their differences.

PNM said in a news release yesterday that the two companies "are in disagreement about the future of the transaction" but Jeff Sterba, the company's chief executive, said "PNM remains committed to the strategic benefits of bringing the two companies' electric operations together."

Western Resources issued a statement saying that PNM's "characterization" that the Kansas company had broken off the talks was wrong. "We have continually expressed our willingness to work with PNM and believe the current transaction can be completed without significant modification of the economic terms," said David Wittig, Western's chief executive.

Recent rulings by the Kansas Corporation Commission appear to be the fly in the ointment. In one ruling last month, the commission blocked Western's restructuring plan, which would have split its regulated electric utilities off from its unregulated business. Western says the restructuring is an essential part of the merger. In another ruling, the regulators denied a $151 million rate increase for the regulated utilities.

Sterba agreed that the rulings were at the heart of the problem. "We continue to believe that the merger agreement with Western, as currently structured, cannot be consummated if the KCC orders stand and the KCC's expressed concerns are not addressed by Western," he said.

Western's two utilities, Kansas Power & Light Co. and Kansas Gas & Electric Co., serve 636,000 customers in the Sunflower State. Together, they are the state's largest electric company.

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