Exelon to shift course on legislation to save Illinois nukes in wake of Trump presidency
Exelon is preparing to make a second attempt to introduce legislation that could save its Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear plants in Illinois by providing subsidies for zero emissions power.
Last spring, the utility tried to move legislation in the state that would have addressed a variety of issues – from utility microgrids and revising the state’s renewable portfolio standard to aiding the company’s ailing nuclear plants – but the legislative session ended without lawmakers ever taking up the bill. The updated legislation would now parallel a support plan approved in August by New York regulators to save some of its struggling nuclear fleet, which was designed to avoid FERC’s jurisdiction over regional power markets by pegging subsidies to nuclear’s carbon-free attributes.
As originally conceived, the bill would calculate subsidies for the nuclear plants and incorporate a social cost of carbon dioxide emissions as the baseline for rewarding the nukes for their lack of emissions with adjustments based on market conditions.
