News
LCG, September 12, 2025--Entergy announced yesterday that the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) approved Entergy Texas’ proposal to build two efficient natural gas-fired power plants to support the region’s rapid growth. The combined electric generating capacity of the two facilities, the Legend Power Station and the Lone Star Power Station, will add over 1,200 MW to the Southeast Texas power grid to support new customer demand, increase reliability and lower costs for all customers. Both facilities are scheduled to commence operations by mid-2028.
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LCG, September 4, 2025--Puget Sound Energy (PSE) announced yesterday that phased construction has commenced on its 142-MW Appaloosa Solar Project, a utility-scale solar facility underway in southeastern Washington. The project is being built by Qcells EPC, who will serve as the module manufacturer and the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) solution provider. Construction is scheduled through 2026, and commercial operation is expected at the end of next year.
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Industry News
What FERC Found Wrong with California Regulation
LCG, Nov. 3, 2000--An investigation into the California electricity market by the staff of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission found a lot of things wrong with the ways in which state regulators and politicians have handled the deregulated power industry, but three problems cause most of the trouble.In the first place, there were no identifiable bogeymen behind the run-up in electricity prices this past summer. The high wholesale prices -- ultimately high retail prices to customers of San Diego Gas & Electric Co. -- were the work of competitive market forces, known to economists as the law of supply and demand.FERC's staff said that unusually high temperatures for protracted periods coupled with an insufficiency of generation resources were the main cause of the high prices, though increased power production costs played a part.In the second place, FERC found that the way the California Independent System Operator handles the problem of replacement reserves -- going into the market to buy power when margins fall below specified levels -- actually increases market prices. The staff recommended an overhaul of Cal-ISO's market rules.Third, and possibly most significant, was FERC's finding that the deregulation law's requirement that the state's three investor-owned utilities make all their electricity transactions through the California Power Exchange placed the companies at the mercy of the volatile spot market while denying them risk management options such as long-term power supply contacts to replace capacity lost when they were forced to divest generation assets.George Sladoje, chief executive of Cal-PX, agreed with FERC and implied that his exchange should have been a voluntary market all along. "The proposed elimination of the mandatory must buy-sell requirement is consistent with independent governance and the market and regulatory flexibility that the Cal-PX had anticipated," he said.The FERC staff also noted with some dismay that there seemed to be no response on the part of the load to the high prices. Apparently times are so good that electricity customers shrugged their shoulders and kept burning power during peak periods, and then complained to regulators and politicians who just made matters worse.
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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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