Credit Illinois Public Radio
With two more days until the scheduled adjournment of the General Assembly’s spring legislative session, negotiations on a high-stakes deal to steer Illinois away from carbon-causing energy sources as well as a host of other goals from ending controversial formula ratemaking and forcing ethics reforms as a utility-involved corruption investigation looms large have reached impasse, according to multiple sources engaged in bargaining.
As of Saturday night, parties remain far apart on the linchpin of the deal: how much the state should provide in subsidies for nuclear giant Exelon to prevent the company from the threatened closures of at least two, if not three, of Exelon’s six nuclear power generating stations that are not profitable. Those six locations serve the northern half of Illinois, which contains the majority of the state’s 12.8 million people.
Supporters of union-backed energy bill that benefits ComEd question audit from Gov J B Pritzker s office that called for lower nuclear plant subsidies
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Supporters of union-backed energy bill that benefits ComEd question audit from Gov J B Pritzker s office that called for lower nuclear plant subsidies
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20 April 2021
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An independent financial audit requested by the state of Illinois has found the Byron and Dresden nuclear power plants face real risk of becoming uneconomic in the near term. State support could help provide security for the plants to be part of a strategy for Illinois to transition to less carbon-emitting resources, the report finds.
Exelon s six nuclear plants in Illinois (Image: Exelon)
Exelon Generation announced last year that the two-unit Byron and Dresden nuclear power plants will both be retired in 2021, citing unfavourable market rules in the the PJM capacity auction. The company at that time warned that further plants would also be at risk of premature closure due to these unfavourable market rules. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency in January appointed Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Synapse Energy Economics Inc to carry out the audit of claims by Exelon Corporation about the financial outlook for its Byron, Dresden, Braidwood and LaSal