NEI president urges FERC to implement proposed rulemaking to compensate reliability, resiliency

Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) President and CEO Maria Korsnick recently urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to implement a proposed rulemaking from the Department of Energy (DOE) that would compensate energy resources for reliability and resiliency attributes.

“DOE determined that FERC must reform the markets to address system resilience and long-term grid reliability,” Korsnick said at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing. “I cannot overstate the need for FERC and the RTOs to expeditiously implement … DOE’s recommendations.”

Energy Secretary Rick Perry recently directed FERC to issue a rule requiring electricity markets to create and implement changes that would compensate baseload resources for certain reliability and resiliency requirements.

“A diverse mix of power generation resources, including those with on-site reserves, is essential to the reliable delivery of electricity—particularly in times of supply stress such as recent natural disasters,” Perry said a press release. “My proposal will strengthen American energy security by ensuring adequate reserve resource supply and I look forward to the Commission acting swiftly on it.”

Korsnick noted at the hearing that market conditions have caused early retirements of nuclear plants.

“Some of the other technologies make money besides what they get from the market, from tax credits, for example,” Korsnick said. “They are interested in putting their power on the grid and the price can be low, zero or even less than zero. And they will still get money because of those tax credits. We’re all a fan of fair markets, but the markets are not fair today. … When prices go negative nuclear plants, essentially, have to pay the grid operator to take their power.”