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Oklo and Siemens Energy Sign Agreement to Accelerate Power Conversion System for New SMR in Idaho

LCG, November 19, 2025--Oklo Inc. and Siemens Energy announced today that the parties have signed a binding contract for the design and delivery of the power conversion system for Oklo’s Aurora-INL (Idaho National Laboratory) nuclear small modular reactor (SMR). The agreement authorizes Siemens Energy to begin engineering and design work to expedite procurement of long-lead components and to initiate the manufacturing process for the power conversion system. Oklo’s expertise in advanced fission technology will be combined with Siemens Energy’s extensive industry experience with steam turbine and generator systems, with the ultimate goal of generating carbon-free, reliable electricity.

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NERC's New Winter Reliability Assessment Raises Concerns for Elevated Risk of Insufficient Supplies to Meet Demand in Extreme Operating Conditions

LCG, November 19, 2025--NERC yesterday released its 2025–2026 Winter Reliability Assessment (WRA), which concludes "much of North America is again at an elevated risk of having insufficient energy supplies to meet demand in extreme operating conditions." The WRA does state that resources are adequate for normal winter peak demand, but extended, wide-area cold snaps will be challenging.

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Industry News

Senators Propose National Renewable Electricity Standard

LCG, September 22, 2010--Senators Bingaman (New Mexico) and Brownback (Kansas) yesterday announced plans to reintroduce a bill to create a federal renewable electricity standard (RES). The legislation is alleged to increase our energy security, enhance the reliability of the electricity grid by creating more homegrown renewable energy, and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

The stand-alone, 43-page RES bill is almost identical to the RES included in the American Clean Energy Leadership Act, S. 1462, according to Senator Bingaman. The bill requires electricity suppliers to ratchet up the percent of renewable energy supplies (or energy efficiency improvements) from 3 percent in 2012 to 15 percent in 2021. The bill is designed not to affect state programs.

Like prior the proposal, the bill includes (i) an exemption for utilities selling less than 4 million megawatt hours per year of electricity and (ii) the option to pay alternative compliance payments to the Secretary at a rate of 2.1 cents per kWh.

Renewable energy sources include wind, solar, ocean, geothermal, landfill gas, incremental hydropower, hydrokinetic, and new hydropower at existing dams, an expanded waste-to-energy definition that includes municipal wastes, and biomass.

Although biomass is included as a renewable resource, the bill does nothing to address the carbon neutrality of biomass, which the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has called into question with its proposed Tailoring Rule that does not treat biomass as carbon neutral. Without carbon neutrality, biomass development will likely be limited, and it will not become the primary, non-hydro source of renewables, as forecast this year in the Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook.

Senator Bingaman states, "I think that the votes are present in the Senate to pass a renewable electricity standard. I think that they are present in the House. I think that we need to get on with figuring out what we can pass and move forward."
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