EnergyOnline
Services

RSS FEED

EnergyOnline.com rss

News

DOE Announces Site Selection for Energy Infrastructure and AI Data Centers on Federal Lands

LCG, July 24, 2025--The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the next steps in the Trump administration’s plan to accelerate the development of AI infrastructure by using Federal lands to lower energy costs and help power the global AI race, as previously outlined in President Trump’s Executive Orders on Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure, Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security, and Unleashing American Energy.

Read more

Enbridge Announces 600-MW Solar Project in Texas to Power Meta Data Center Operations

LCG, July 22, 2025--Enbridge Inc. (Enbridge) today announced that it has reached a final investment decision on the Clear Fork solar project located near San Antonio, Texas. Meta Platforms, Inc. (Meta), has signed a long-term contract for all of the renewable power generated from the 600-MW project.

Read more

Industry News

Power Producers Offer Low Prices in Cal Auction

LCG, Jan. 25, 2001Thirty-nine bidders offered long-term power to California at an average price of 6.9 cents per kilowatt-hour in a 27-hour auction that ended at noon yesterday. The average price was more than a cent lower than the 8 cents some experts said it would cost to generate power with today's high natural gas prices.

"This is good news," Gov. Gray Davis told a news conference where he announced the initial results. "All of us are very pleased with the preliminary results."

The $69 per megawatt-hour average was still higher that the $55 per megawatt-hour price the state was hoping for and which had been branded as unrealistic by power producers and others. But Davis seemed pleased, saying the average price "means we are on the right track."

The auction was conducted by the California Department of Water Resources, which aims to purchase power and resell it at cost to the state's two largest electric utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Edison Co., which have been impoverished by the state's deregulation scheme which forced them to purchase power on the volatile spot market at prices many times higher than what they were allowed to charge their customers.

State officials declined to say how much power was offered or for how long. "The governor's office is reviewing the bids and then we will post the information when the review is completed," a spokesman said.

Reliant Energy Inc. said it had submitted six bids to provide up to 3,500 megawatts of firm capacity to the state, as well as up to 500 megawatts of "peaking" power which would be called upon only during periods of highest demand. But it said its bid for the 3,500 megawatts didn't conform to the water department's request for proposals.

Reliant said it would sell power on a 10-year contract for 1.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, plus the cost of natural gas to run the plants. For a 5-year contract, the price would be 2 cents. Under those contracts, it would be up to the Department of Water resources to buy the gas and resell it to Reliant, the company said.

Duke Energy Corp. said its generation subsidiary had "submitted credible bids in the process outlined by DWR."

Davis said he hoped the California legislature would authorize acceptance of the best bids within a week. That seven-day delay for evaluation was a weakness of the auction, Reliant said, because natural gas prices could change in that week.

Another restriction Reliant found onerous was a requirement that power offered must come from existing power plants, preventing bidders from including lower cost power that will become available from new generation facilities coming on line after this year.

Copyright © 2025 LCG Consulting. All rights reserved. Terms and Copyright
UPLAN-NPM
The Locational Marginal Price Model (LMP) Network Power Model
Uniform Storage Model
A Battery Simulation Model
UPLAN-ACE
Day Ahead and Real Time Market Simulation
UPLAN-G
The Gas Procurement and Competitive Analysis System
PLATO
Database of Plants, Loads, Assets, Transmission...
CAISO CRR Auctions
Monthly Price and Congestion Forecasting Service