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EIA Analysis of Southwest Hydropower Generation Shows Record Lows and Slow Recovery

LCG, November 13, 2026--The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) today issued an "In-Brief Analysis" highlighting the record lows for hydropower generation in the Southwest this summer. The prolonged drought conditions affecting the Colorado River Basin caused record low hydropower generation this summer in the Southwestern electricity supply region, which includes Arizona, New Mexico, and small parts of Nevada and California. Hydropower generation from April through August 2026 was a full 28 percent lower than the 10-year average and 19 percent lower than during the same period last year.

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NRC Issues Construction Permit for Long Mott High-Temperature, Gas-Cooled Reactor in Texas

LCG, November 11, 2026--The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced on November 9 that it has approved the Construction Permit Application ("CPA") for the Long Mott Generating Station in Texas. Long Mott Energy, LLC (LME) must obtain a separate operating license from the NRC before loading fuel or operating the reactors.

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Industry News

FERC Forced to Release Report on Williams and AES Communications

LCG, Nov. 15, 2002--Conversations transcribed in a Federal Energy Regualtory Commission report detail what appears to have been an agreement to keep a Southern California power plant from providing power, which allowed Williams to sell power at a higher-than-expected price to the California Independent System Operator.

Williams had hoped to avoid the release of the FERC report, which FERC had earlier warned it would release unless the company agreed to erase $8 million in charges to the CAISO, which contested them as unwarranted. Although Williams agreed not to pursue the charges, a public-records lawsuit brought by The Wall Street Journal against the FERC compelled the report's release. Representatives for Williams and AES responded to the report by characterizing their communications in May 2000 as well-known and not deserving of attention. Williams settled a lawsuit brought by California this week, rewriting long-term contracts with the state to avoid further legal action.

The conversations between the companies concerned the AES Alamitos plant, from which Williams was buying and marketing power. Any power that could not be delivered as planned would and did bring a price of $750 per megawatt-hour, rather than the price of $63 in the schedule. In this case, units within the same plant provided power because the units specified in the schedule were on outage for maintenance. The additional cost to the CAISO over a fifteen-day period was estimated at $10 million.

Rhonda Morgan of Williams was quoted as saying to an AES employee at the plant, "it wouldn't hurt Williams' feelings if the outage ran long." The president of Williams Energy Marketing & Trading, Bill Hobbs, said that the release of the information against the wishes of FERC "doesn't add anything to the dialogue...", and said that AES received no compensation based on the communications.
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