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

Arizona Needs Transmission Upgrades, State Says

LCG, Aug. 9, 2001--In its Biennial Transmission Assessment, the Arizona Corporation Commission says that the state may have plenty of electric power generation but getting the power to where it's needed could be something else.

High-growth areas like Phoenix could face "California-style rolling blackouts" unless new transmission lines are added, the report concludes. But the utilities who own the transmission grid say the existing wires have served well in the past and will continue to do so.

"We believe the transmission system is adequate and reliable, and it's proven so in recent memory," said Steve Glaser, chief operating officer of Tucson Electric Power Co.

Not so, said the commission staff, pointing to an outage that occurred in July of last year when a New Mexico forest fire shut down two 138 kilovolt lines that carry power from TEP's Springerville power plant. While some customers' power was restored almost immediately, others were without electricity for more that a full day.

Glaser said his utility was not complacent and, despite its contention that the existing system is adequate, the company is building several new lines to meet demand and improve reliability,including a line from Springerville to a major substation, a new line to Tucson from a major transmission hub near Phoenix to Tucson, and a proposed line to Nogales, Ariz., and Mexico.

Arizona Public Service Co., the federal Salt River Project and a host of municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives all say that the state's transmission system meets standards set by the North American Electric Reliability Council and argue that the commission report ignores new power plants being built near parts of the state where additional power will be needed.

Rob Kondziolka, manager of transmission planning for Salt River, noted that APS and his organization are upgrading local power plants and are jointly constructing a new, 500-kilovolt line from the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix to the Phoenix area that is expected to be online by summer 2003.

Arizona regulators opened the state's electric market to competition in January, but so far it has been limited to just a few large business customers. The commission is worried about when competition becomes more general, and competitive suppliers have difficulty gaining access to transmission services.

The report notes that the state's utilities can effectively use "transmission congestion" to restrict access to their lines.

"Right now, the capacity on a lot of these lines is really captive, and there's no way to get more power through," said Dennis Tyrrell, president of New Millennium Energy Corp., a Tucson-based company that was recently licensed as a competitive electric service provider.

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