PJM attacks plan for coal, nuclear subsidies in US

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) proposal to subsidise US coal and nuclear power generators has many legal and practical weaknesses, according regional transmission organisation (RTO) PJM Interconnection, which is proposing a more reasonable course of action.

On Monday the RTO filed comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), calling for “a deeper, more meaningful, and more productive consideration” of the way changes in the resource mix are affecting individual RTO markets, operations, and reliability. It says the commission should set a deadline for receiving regional plans with solutions that take into account the actual history and experience of separate RTOs in the country given their resource mix, and operational and reliability needs.

PJM says that Rick Perry’s notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) from end-September “does not correctly state the problem nor propose a reasonable solution that meets the just and reasonable standard under the Federal Power Act”.

Perry last month directed the FERC to quickly start work on new market rules to ensure that the reliability and resiliency attributes of generators with on-site fuel supplies, such as coal and nuclear power plants, “are fully valued”. According to the RTO, the facts claimed in the NOPR do not lead to the proposed remedy. It warns that the proposed actions would undermine reliability and lead to higher costs and economic inefficiencies, and may actually hurt system reliability.

PJM coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

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