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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

CPUC Approves PG&E's Agreements for 585 MW of Renewable Energy

LCG, December 26, 2007--Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced
that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved four renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) associated with three solar and one geothermal facilities. The combined generating capacity associated with the projects is 585.5 MW.

The largest solar project is the Mojave Solar Project, with a generating capacity of 553 MW. The project will use Solel's patented solar thermal parabolic trough technology and cover about nine square miles in the Mojave Desert. The massive project will include 1.2 million mirrors that track the sun and focus the sun's energy to heat 317 miles of vacuum tubing, which will produce steam that drives electric-generating turbines. The project is scheduled to be fully operational in 2011.

Two smaller PPAs, with a combined capacity of 7 MW, associated with solar power were also approved. One PPA is with Cleantech America LLC, and the other is with GreenVolts, Inc. The projects will both utilize photovoltaic technologies and are scheduled for completion in 2009.

Lastly, the CPUC approved a PPA between PG&E and Western GeoPower, Inc. for 25.5 MW of renewable geothermal energy. The power will be generated at The Geysers Geothermal Field, which is sited approximately 75 miles north of San Francisco, California. The Geysers Geothermal Field is an existing resource that has been generating power since 1960.

California passed a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program that requires utilities to increase their electric supply procurement of eligible renewable generating resources by one percent of load per year, with a 20 percent renewables target by the end of 2010 and a 33 percent target by the end of 2020.

According to PG&E, about 12 percent of its energy is now supplied by qualifying renewable sources under California's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) program. PG&E states that it is on track to achieve the RPS target of 20 percent by 2010.
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