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News
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LCG, November 19, 2025--Oklo Inc. and Siemens Energy announced today that the parties have signed a binding contract for the design and delivery of the power conversion system for Oklo’s Aurora-INL (Idaho National Laboratory) nuclear small modular reactor (SMR). The agreement authorizes Siemens Energy to begin engineering and design work to expedite procurement of long-lead components and to initiate the manufacturing process for the power conversion system. Oklo’s expertise in advanced fission technology will be combined with Siemens Energy’s extensive industry experience with steam turbine and generator systems, with the ultimate goal of generating carbon-free, reliable electricity.
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LCG, November 19, 2025--NERC yesterday released its 2025–2026 Winter Reliability Assessment (WRA), which concludes "much of North America is again at an elevated risk of having insufficient energy supplies to meet demand in extreme operating conditions." The WRA does state that resources are adequate for normal winter peak demand, but extended, wide-area cold snaps will be challenging.
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Industry News
California Flubbed Power Buys, Audit Says
LCG, Dec. 21, 2001--The rush early this year by California Gov. Gray Davis to "lock up" through long-term contracts with independent power producers sufficient electricity to meet the state's needs for a decade or more was described by critics at the time as a "long-term fix for a short-term problem."It could turn out to be worse than that, according to a state audit released yesterday of the $43 billion portfolio of power contracts negotiated by the California Department of Water Resources.While the audit recognizes that the state was a desperate buyer in a seller's market, it also notes that the CDWR negotiators were amateurs dealing with old pros -- lambs among wolves. Concessions made to power producers could result in the cost of the power exceeding the contracts by hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the report by state auditor Elaine Howle.CDWR negotiators agreed to provisions in some of the contracts that would allow power producers to temporarily back out of their obligation to deliver electricity. They also agreed in several instances to pay power prices above those specified in the contracts in order to protect the power producers from certain cost increases such as tax increases, imposition of pollution penalties and new clean air laws and regulations.Critics say those possible cost increases are risks ordinarily assumed by the seller."Although the department was in a weak bargaining position because of the financial crisis in the electricity markets, its rush to ease the electricity crisis by locking in power supply through long-term contracts weakened its position even further," the report said.CDWR officials say the audit ignores the situation that existed when the contracts were negotiated last February and March. Rolling blackouts were a daily threat and spot market power prices were around $250 per megawatt-hour, far higher than the average of $69 per megawatt-hour called for in the contracts."It's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback," said Thomas Hannigan, director of the water agency.Once the CDWR started signing contracts it couldn't stop, complain some critics, and the audit bears them out, saying that the state bought too much power for Southern California for delivery in 2004.The fact is, the state may not have needed to purchase any power at all. A year ago, there was an insufficiency of generation in California and customary imports from the hydroelectric-rich Pacific Northwest were not forthcoming because of a severe drought in that region. Several new power plants have been commissioned in California this year and spot market prices have dropped back to about $25 per megawatt-hour.California Secretary of State Bill Jones, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, used the audit to scathe Davis yesterday. "Today's audit speaks volumes of the Davis administration's gross mismanagement of the power crisis, particularly with his decision to commit more than $42 billion of California taxpayer and ratepayer dollars to poorly negotiated long-term power deals," Jones told a Sacramento press conference.
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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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