Exelon Corporation’s nuclear plants in Illinois have cleared regional transmission organization PJM’s transition-capacity auction for the 2016-17 planning year, Exelon said on Tuesday.
Grid operator PJM holds auctions on an annual basis so that the power-generation sources in its service area are able to meet the expected energy demand. PJM covers 13 states and the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.).
“We continue to be encouraged by these auction results, which, along with EPA’s Clean Power plan, begin to properly value nuclear power for their reliability and low-carbon benefits,” Chris Crane, Exelon’s president and CEO, said. “These auction results, as well as other factors, will come into play as we analyze the current and expected economics of each of our plants.”
The capacity auction for the 2017-18 planning year will take place this week, and for competitive reasons, Exelon cannot disclose whether its plants outside of Illinois cleared the 2016-17 auction.
The capacity auctions were ordered by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure that generation companies are implementing reliability measures in the event of extreme weather conditions.
Exelon said it invests approximately $1 billion in advancing its nuclear generation facilities with new technology to bolster performance, safety and reliability.
