Staff at the New York Public Service Commission have proposed an initial zero-emission credit of $17.48 per megawatt hour intended to prevent closure of several upstate nuclear power plants.
The proposal, released for public comment on July 8, is part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s planned Clean Energy Standard, which calls for half of all state power to by 2030 be produced via renewable sources. Total costs during the first two years of credit payments are estimated at $965 million, compared to $5 billion in economic and environmental benefits from carbon reductions, supply cost savings, and property tax benefits from keeping the plants operating, the document says.
Credits would be available to facilities that by “public necessity” must remain operational to preserve their zero-emission environmental benefits or otherwise aid the electric grid, customers, and the environment. Public necessity would be determined by the Public Service Commission based on criteria including public interest; the plant’s historic contribution to the state’s clean energy resource mix; and the degree to which revenue would not provide sufficient compensation to keep the site open and providing an environmental benefit.
The document says staff presently believes that Entergy’s James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant and Exelon’s Ginna and Nine Mile facilities would meet the criteria. That leaves out Entergy’s Indian Point Energy Center, which is closer to New York City and has been targeted for closure by Cuomo.
Entergy announced late last year that FitzPatrick would close no later than 2017, and has so far dismissed all proposals to keep the facility open. Spokeswoman Tammy Holden said Monday that Entergy is reviewing the staff proposal and plans to submit comments to the commission by the July 18 deadline.
Exelon, which has said it must receive state incentives to keep Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station Unit 1 and its single-reactor Ginna Nuclear Power Plant open, did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
The initial credit amount would cover only the first of six contract periods, from April 1, 2017, to March 31, 2019. Credits would be recalculated for each subsequent tranche, to March 31, 2029.
