|
News
|
LCG, November 6, 2025--X-energy Reactor Company, LLC, (X-energy) and the U.S. Office of Nuclear Energy today announced the start of confirmatory irradiation testing at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to qualify X-energy’s proprietary TRISO-X fuel pebbles for commercial use in the Xe-100 Small Modular Reactor (SMR). (TRISO stands for TRi-structural ISOtropic). This is the first time that TRISO-X fuel pebbles will undergo irradiation testing in a U.S. lab, which is a critical step in meeting requirements set forth by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the commercial deployment of advanced reactors that will use the fuel.
Read more
|
|
LCG, October 28, 2025--NextEra Energy and Google yesterday announced two agreements that will help meet growing electricity demand from artificial intelligence (AI) with clean, reliable, 24/7 nuclear power and strengthen the nation's nuclear leadership. First, Google signed a new, 25-year agreement for power generated at the Duane Arnold Energy Center, Iowa's only nuclear power facility. The 601-MW boiling water reactor unit was shut down in 2020 and is expected to commence operations by the first quarter of 2029, pending regulatory approvals to restart the plant.
Read more
|
|
|
Industry News
Geothermal Energy is Back on the Menu
LCG, March 12, 2025--Geothermal energy is resurfacing as a potential key element of America's energy future. The Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary highlighted next-generation geothermal energy as a future domestic source of reliable, 24x7 power supply to meet the growing demand for electricity in the U.S.
“This is just an awesome resource that’s under our feet. Let’s work together to better energize our country, improve quality of life, drive AI innovation, support manufacturing reshoring, and stop rising electricity prices,” the DOE Secretary stated recently.
"I'm encouraged that the Department of Energy has recognized natural gas, geothermal, and nuclear as priorities," said the Executive Director of the Hamm Institute for American Energy Geothermal at a geothermal roundtable at Oklahoma State University. "Geothermal has the potential to be another source of reliable energy and can be a tremendous asset to American economic security. Particularly as they can leverage the oil and natural gas industry's innovative drilling practices, technology, and skilled workforce."
Geothermal capacity in the U.S. today only totals approximately 4 GW, and it is primarily located in California and Nevada. The conventional hydrothermal technology used at these plants relies on wells that produce hot water or steam from naturally permeable reservoirs up to a few kilometers underground.
Next-generation geothermal technologies are not reliant on these unique, natural subsurface conditions but will use advanced drilling and reservoir engineering to extract geothermal heat from rock formations that do not naturally host hydrothermal reservoirs, thereby greatly expanding the areas where geothermal facilities could be developed.
The DOE, in its report entitled, "Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Next-Generation Geothermal Power," estimates that geothermal energy could provide 90 GW of capacity by 2050, and up to 300 GW depending on the development of storage capabilities and other emerging technologies.
Geothermal projects are beginning to emerge. For example, GE Vernova Inc., in collaboration with The Energy & Geoscience Institute at The University of Utah (EGI) and others, announced March 12 that they were shortlisted by U.S. Air Force and the Department of Defense’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to study how to utilize the nation's geothermal energy supply to increase our national security.
The collaboration will consider the designs of power plants at Department of Defense (DoD) installations and the development of business model for each project. The collaboration could provide utility-scale, 5-MW capacity, 24x7 resilient power at approximately 50 DoD sites in the western U.S. and along the western Gulf of America. The project studies include geothermal assessment expertise, drilling, power generation and project development, power conversion, battery energy storage systems (BESS) integration, and microgrid design and control.
|
|
|
|
UPLAN-NPM
The Locational Marginal Price Model (LMP) Network Power 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...
|
|
|
|
|
