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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

PPL Montana Announces Decision to Mothball Corette Coal Plant

LCG, September 20, 2012--PPL Montana, a subsidiary of PPL Corp., announced yesterday its decision to place the J.E. Corette power plant in Billings, Montana into long-term reserve status beginning in April 2015, when the Environmental Protection Agency's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) regulations go into effect.

The PPL Montana vice president and chief operating officer stated, "Our detailed analysis has shown that to meet the emission reductions required by EPA's Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, we would need to invest $38 million in the Corette plant. We simply cannot justify that level of spending in the current wholesale power market in the Northwest."

Power market economics also influenced the decision. According to the press release, wholesale power prices have been depressed in the Northwest because of declining electricity use and an abundance of new wind energy projects subsidized by federal production tax credits.

By placing the 154-MW coal plant into long-term reserve status (i.e., mothballing the plant), PPL Montana will retain the option to return the plant to service, given the right conditions. The plant commenced commercial operations in 1968 and consumes low-sulfur coal from the Powder River Basin.
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