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In Memory of Rajat Deb: Inspiring Man of Ideas and Remarkable Silicon Valley Archetype

By Anjuli Deb -- With deep sadness and profound appreciation, we share the passing of LCG's founder, Dr. Rajat K. Deb. He was our president and one of the first entrepreneurs in the computer revolution. He was also our friend, our teacher and mentor, and for a few of us, our father and grandfather.

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Avantus and Clean Power Alliance Sign PPA for 200-MW Solar Plus Storage Facility for Southern California Communities

LCG, July 13, 2026--Avantus, an independent power producer (IPP), and Clean Power Alliance (CPA) today announced a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Rexford 2 solar and storage project in Tulare County, California. The project will deliver 200 MWac of solar power combined with a 200 MW/800 MWh of battery energy storage system (BESS) to the California grid. The project is scheduled to commence construction in 2027 and achieve operations in late 2028. Commercial operations under the PPA are scheduled to start in May 2029. Avantus plans to own and operate facility.

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Industry News

Transcripts Suggest Top Enron Execs Knew of Market Manipulation

LCG, May 18, 2004--A former executive at Enron Corp. for regulatory affairs spoke with an energy trader in a way suggesting that Enron's chief executive Jeffrey Skilling and chairman Kenneth Lay were informed of manipulative power trading strategies involving purchases by California buyers, according to a transcript obtained by the Justice Department.

The routine transcript shows that the director of California regulatory affairs, Susan Mara, asked a trader during Sept. 14, 2000, "Do you know when you started overscheduling load and making buckets of money on that?" A trader involved in overscheduling could have made it appear that no more power could flow on a transmission line into California, creating the illusion that power shortages existed. The transcript, which was released by a municipal utility in Washington state, also quotes Mara as saying, "This is the time of year when government affairs has to prove how valuable it is to Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling."

The former chief of West Coast power trading, Timothy Belden, is found in another transcript saying of a power trader, "Well he makes... between one and two [million] a day, which never shows up on any curve shift... He steals money from California to the tune of about a million -". A request by another speaker to Belden to modify what has been said leads Belden to articulate, "He, um, he arbitrages the California market to the tune of a million bucks or two a day."

Belden has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, and is aiding federal authorities in their investigation. Belden's attorney told the Los Angeles Times that the meaning of the conversation in the transcript could not be gleaned without knowledge of the rest of the exchange.
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