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EIA Estimates Record U.S. Electric Generating Capacity Additions in 2026, with Solar in the Lead

LCG, February 20, 2026--The EIA today issued an "in-brief analysis" that estimates U.S. power plant developers and operators plan to complete a record installation of 86 GW of new, utility-scale electric generating capacity that is connected to the U.S. power grid in 2026. Last year, 53 GW of new capacity was added to the grid, which was the largest capacity installation in a single year since 2002. Thus the estimate of 86 GW of new capacity in 2026 is a whopping 33 GW greater than the year prior. It should be noted that over 20 GW of the 86 GW of new capacity this year is estimated to be completed in December.

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Enhanced Geothermal Systems May Drive Significant Growth in Geothermal Power Generation

LCG, February 19, 2026--The EIA released an "in-brief analysis" today regarding the expected completion of the first, large-scale commercial enhanced geothermal system (EGS) in June 2026, and the significant growth potential for year-round, 24x7, carbon-free, renewable EGS power generation in the United States.

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Industry News

California ISO Declares a Stage 3 Alert – No Outages Yet

LCG, Jan. 16, 2001The California Independent System Operator, still struggling to come up with enough power to meet a forecast demand of 32,315 megawatts in its control area, declared a Stage 3 Electricity Emergency at 7:20 this morning, pacific time.

The ISO said that a total of 10,700 megawatts of generation was off line because of planned maintenance or forced outages. The 1,190 megawatt San Onofre Unit 3 nuclear power plant was among that, having shut down for refueling. Another 1,600 megawatts worth of generation tripped off line over the weekend when something broke.

On the best day in spring, with all plants operating and the state's rivers in full flow, Cal-ISO would have a little more than 44,000 megawatts of power at its disposal. That is a far cry from the 53,000 megawatts of generating capacity some state officials say the state has.

The discrepancy is the one that accompanies comparisons of apples with oranges. Cal-ISO is responsible only for that portion of the transmission network owned by the state's three investor-owned utilities. The ISO can draw on the power generated only by plants owned by those utilities or the ones sold by them to independent power producers.

The state officials, on the other hand, look at total in-state generation, which includes power generated in plants owned by municipal utilities, irrigation districts and rural electric cooperatives. The last time we looked, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a municipal utility, owned about 6,500 megawatts of capacity.

Today, about 33,000 megawatts are available to Cal-ISO, and Cal-ISO is going to need all of it.

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