Markets
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Renewables
Europe Rebuilds Grid to Accommodate Green Energy Swell
A flood of renewable capacity in the European Union is forcing member countries to consider grid upgrades that offer a more substantial power supply management role to distribution system operators. Lee
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Legal & Regulatory
As Community Choice Aggregation Expands, the Battle Over “Exit Fees” Intensifies
Community choice aggregation (CCA) continues to emerge as a favorite tool for towns, cities, and counties interested in pursuing local control over their energy supply, increased renewable electricity
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Coal
[UPDATED] Dynegy Rethinks Illinois Ventures Amid Market Turmoil
As Dynegy moved this week to assume full ownership of two struggling Ohio coal plants it co-owns with AES Corp. subsidiary DPL Inc., the company’s CEO reportedly said it is mulling withdrawing its presence from downstate Illinois owing to the state’s intervention to keep its nuclear plants running. Dynegy CEO Robert Flexon told Crain’s Chicago Business […]
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Legal & Regulatory
DOE Issues First-Ever Emergency Order to Keep Open a Unit That Is Noncompliant with MATS
The Department of Energy (DOE) issued an unprecedented emergency order on April 14 to keep open a power plant that had been slated for shutdown under the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) in a bid to secure electric reliability. The DOE’s order was issued under the Federal Power Act Section 202(c). It inaugurates the […]
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Gas
Exelon Chief Is Optimistic Despite Current Nuclear Market Turmoil
Exelon Corp., the nation’s largest nuclear generator, reinvented itself amid recent power pricing swings, market inequities, and policy worries that are challenging its “very existence,” a high-ranking executive told attendees at the ELECTRIC POWER Conference and Exhibition in Chicago this week. Bryan Hanson, president and chief nuclear officer for Exelon Generation, who gave the annual […]
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Legal & Regulatory
U.S. Nuclear: From Hope to Despair
A decade ago, the annual Platts nuclear energy conference in Washington was brimming with optimism over a coming “nuclear renaissance,” as licensing requests poured into the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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Nuclear
PJM Market Monitor Backs Lawsuit Against Illinois Nuclear Subsidies
PJM Interconnection’s independent market monitor is joining the pushback—spearheaded by a trade group and several generators that operate in competitive wholesale markets—against an Illinois law that props up financially distressed nuclear plants with subsidies. Monitoring Analytics on March 16 filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to intervene […]
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Infographics
SLIDESHOW: Nuclear “Bailout” Trend Gains Traction in More States
Several U.S. states have passed, or are mulling, programs that expand state aid to financially distressed nuclear reactors in a bid to keep them open for economic and environmental reasons. Generators that operate in competitive wholesale markets are perturbed by these measures, which they say amount to nuclear “bailouts.” —Sonal Patel, associate editor (@POWERmagazine, @sonalcpatel) […]
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T&D
Duck Hunting at the California Independent System Operator
California’s excess of solar power challenges the statewide independent system operator’s ability to balance its system without curtailing low-carbon supplies and ramping up natural gas generation. It’s
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Coal
FirstEnergy Looks to Exit Competitive Business, Shutter or Sell Ohio Nuclear Plants
Financially hemorrhaging in 2016 due to uneconomic power plants in its fleet, FirstEnergy Corp. said it may exit the competitive generation business by mid-2018, and shutter its nuclear plants in Ohio, even though it will back legislation to subsidize nuclear power. In a fourth quarter earnings call on February 22, officials from the Akron, Ohio–based […]
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