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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

Plans Proceed for New Nuclear Reactors at South Texas Project Electric Generating Station

LCG, August 8, 2006--GE Energy and the STP Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC) announced yesterday that they executed project development agreement to study the deployment and commence licensing activities for two GE Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) to be sited at the South Texas Project Electric Generating Station (STP), located about 90 miles southwest of Houston.

STPNOC is acting as the agent for NRG Energy Inc., which owns 44 percent of STP and recently announced plans to develop the two new ABWR units, which would each have a generating capacity of about 1,500 MW. The new units would be installed adjacent to the existing STP nuclear generating station, which now consists of two pressurized water reactors, each with a capacity of 1,312 MW. The other owners of STPNOC are CPS Energy (40 percent) and Austin Energy (16 percent).

Representatives from STPNOC, NRG and GE met with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on July 27, 2006 to discuss plans to prepare a combined license (COL) application for the two-unit project.

The NRC issued final design certification for the GE ABWR in 1997, allowing it to be used in U.S. projects. The ABWR is a "Generation III" reactor design that is in operation today, with four operating units in Japan and two more approaching completion in Taiwan.

GE's next evolution of advanced BWR technology is the economic simplified boiling water reactor (ESBWR). The ESBR is a 1,500-MW design that incorporates passive safety features that rely upon natural forces, such as gravity, in order to reduce reliance on active, mechanical systems, like pumps and valves. GE submitted its Design Certification application to the NRC for the ESBWR in nearly a year ago. GE anticipates a full Safety Evaluation Report by late 2007, in time for COL submissions that would support the commercial operation of new ESBWRs by 2014 or 2015.
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