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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.

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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.

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Industry News

Xcel Announces Plans to Convert Electric Plant from Coal to Biomass

LCG, October 1, 2008--Xcel Energy Inc. yesterday announced plans to convert a coal-fired, electric generating unit to burn waste wood available primarily from forest harvesting operations. The unit will be the third converted to biomass at the Bay Front Power Plant in Ashland, Wisconsin.

Xcel will submit an application to the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin to upgrade its Bay Front Power Plant. The estimated cost to modify the 30-year old plant is $55 to $70 million. The project schedule calls for construction to commence in 2010 and for operations to begin as early as late 2012.

In that biomass is generally considered a renewable, carbon-neutral fuel, the conversion of the power plant from coal to biomass should reduce the carbon emissions from Xcel's facilities.

According to the Xcel, the biomass project will be the first to use a gasification technology in the conversion of a coal-fired boiler at an existing base-load power plant. In the gasification process, biomass will react with a controlled amount of oxygen at high temperatures to create a synthetic gas (?syngas?) that is then used as a fuel in the boiler.

Xcel's announcement follows a number of other announcements to construct electric generating facilities fueled by biomass. Most recently, Oglethorpe Power Corporation (OPC) announced plans to construct as many as three, 100-MW power plants fueled by woody biomass. The design for the projects includes conventional fluidized bed boilers and steam turbine technology. The planned fuel supply will primarily be a mixture of forest harvest residues, chipped pulpwood, and waste materials from sawmills.

In August Georgia Power submitted a request to the Georgia Public Service Commission for approval to convert an aging, coal-fired unit at its Mitchell Generating Plant in Georgia to use wood wastes. The modified unit would use a direct-fire, stoker technology for a design capacity of 96 MW.

The Austin City Council in August approved a 20-year, power purchase agreement (PPA) with Nacogdoches Power LLC for the electricity generated from a 100-MW facility using a fluidized bed design and fueled with woody biomass. The project site is in Nacogdoches County, Texas. Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) is discussing a similar, 100-MW project with Nacogdoches Power LLC that could be constructed at the existing Deerhaven Generating Station near Gainesville, Florida.
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