Advanced Energy Economy urges Energy Department to deny requested emergency support for coal, nuclear plants

Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) announced Tuesday that it submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), urging a rejection of a proposal that would provide emergency support for coal and nuclear plants across the PJM Interconnection.

FirstEnergy Solutions filed the proposal for a 202(c) order on March 29.

AEE said in its comments that FirstEnergy Solutions did not provide evidence that shows that there is a national emergency that would require DOE to intervene by issuing a 202(c) order.

“The proposal amounts to a multi-billion-dollar tax on businesses and households in PJM to bail out uncompetitive power plants,” Malcolm Woolf, senior vice president of policy for AEE, said. “The region is blessed with ample excess electricity generation supply, as attested to by the grid operator, PJM. As such, there is no imminent shortfall that would justify invoking the ‘emergency authority’ of the Federal Power Act, the ‘national security’ provisions of the Defense Authorization Act, or any other authority for emergency action.”

Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act gives DOE the authority to intervene in the electricity industry during an emergency that threatens national security.

“The only beneficiaries of the requested order would be the owners of failing power plants, while competitive wholesale markets would be upended and American families and businesses would be forced to pay billions in costs that are not needed to keep the lights on,” Woolf said.