Exelon Corporation, the Upstate Energy Jobs Coalition and others hailed New York State's new energy policy that tips its hat to both renewable energy sources and nuclear energy, setting a goal of obtaining 50 percent of its electricity from clean and renewable sources by 2030 and allowing for subsidies for nuclear power.
The subsidies for nuclear power plants, approved Monday by the state's Public Services Commission, could reach $965 million within the first two years of the program, according to Bloomberg calculations. An adjustment in the subsidy is to be calculated every two years based on the wholesale price of electricity. The baseline subsidy, however, factors in the wholesale price of electricity and the social cost of carbon emissions, owing for nuclear power's ability to produce clean, carbon-emissions-free power, a step that was left out of the federal policy that is currently held up by judicial review.
Exelon called the Public Service Commission's decision, which was announced by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as an historic event. Media are touting the policy as the state setting among the highest state standards for combating greenhouse gas pollution with only California, Vermont and Hawaii setting their goals as high.
As opposed to other states, however, New York has managed the coup of allowing both renewable energy sources and nuclear power to bask in the same triumphant headlines. From a political point of view, the policy is a political coup that saves jobs and economic activity that revolves around nuclear power, while endorsing both nuclear and renewables at the same time.
“Approval of the Clean Energy Standard makes New York a true leader in terms of support for zero-emissions energy, including both renewables and nuclear power,” said Exelon President and Chief Executive Officer Chris Crane.
The Upstate Energy Jobs Coalition, a lobbying group representing businesses and labor leaders, said the new policy would save upstate nuclear facilities of the Ginna, Nine Mile Point and FitzPatrick nuclear power plants “through the creation of a first of its kind zero emissions credit for carbon-free power that they produce.”
In addition, Exelon has been negotiating with Entergy to purchase the FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant six miles northeast of Oswego, New York, but has already announced that the purchase was contingent on passage of the Clean Energy Standard policy.
“Today's implementation of the CES is a momentous day,” the Upstate Energy Jobs Coalition said in a statement. “Specifically, the upstate communities … have waited anxiously or months for this moment,” the statement said, pointing out statistics from a Brattle Group study that noted nuclear power's contribution to the state, aside from electricity production, included 25,000 jobs, an addition of $3.16 billion to the state's gross domestic product and $144 million in local and state revenue.
Notably, the Indian Point Units 2 and 3, just north of New York City and operated by Entergy Nuclear Operations, are not part of the celebration regarding the Clean Energy Standard, as those reactors were left out of the policy due to the plant's proximity to New York, which has higher wholesale prices for electricity.