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Minnesota PUC Approves Operations Extension for Xcel Energy's Prairie Island Nuclear Plant

LCG, August 15, 2025--Xcel Energy announced that the company received state approval yesterday from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to extend operations of the Prairie Island nuclear plant through the early 2050s. Prairie Island has two units that have a combined generating capacity of 1,100 MW. The units’ current operating licenses expire in 2033 and 2034.

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PGE Announces Addition of 475 MW of Battery Energy Storage Systems to Improve Grid Reliability and Costs

LCG, August 7, 2025--Portland General Electric (PGE) today announced the completion of three, four-hour lithium-ion utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Oregon, adding 475 MW and more than 1.9 GWh of dispatchable capacity to serve the Portland metro area. Each of these BESS facilities can deliver power during peak demand or when other electric generating facilities are limited, which improves system flexibility, reliability and costs.

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Industry News

Texas Genco to Close 3,800 MW of Electric Generating Capacity

LCG, January 13, 2005--Texas Genco LLC filed a "Notice of Suspension of Operations" with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) regarding the proposed retirement of nearly 3,800 MW of gas-fired generating units at six power plants in the vicinity of Houston. Of the generation to be retired, 2,567 MW of capacity had been previously mothballed. ERCOT has 90 days to evaluate the plan and determine if any of the generating units are necessary for "Reliability Must Run" (RMR) purposes. If any units are determined to be RMR units, then contracts must be negotiated for payment for such services.

The stations and units identified for closure are: P.H. Robinson, Cedar Bayou 3, T.H. Wharton 2, H.O. Clarke, Deepwater 7, and Webster. The age of these units ranges from roughly 30-50 years. With the considerable quantity of new, efficient generating capacity installed in Texas over the past few years, a surplus of capacity exists now and older, less-efficient plants have limited value.

Texas Genco is not alone in retiring capacity in Texas. Earlier this month, TXU announced that it will stop operating nine, gas-fired combustion turbines with a total of 585 MW of peaking capacity. The units are installed at two Texas stations - the Permian Basin Steam Electric Station and the DeCordova Steam Electric Station. In addition, TXU announced similar plans last November to mothball eight, gas-fired electric generating units with a combined capacity of 2,516 MW. These units are located at Valley, North Lake and Morgan Creek stations.

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