Entergy says proposed New York nuclear plan too late to save FitzPatrick plant

Dive Brief:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has vowed to fight for the state's nuclear fleet, and this week staff at the New York Public Service Commission unveiled a plan adding the carbon-free generation into the state's Clean Energy Standard. But Entergy says the move comes too late to save the James A. FitzPatrick plant in upstate New York.
“Whatever this proposal may turn out to be, it would not be in place in time,” a spokesperson for the New Orleans-based utility told Bloomberg.
New York is directing utilities to procure almost 20% of their supplies from nuclear generators by 2020, in an effort to fight economic pressures created by low natural gas prices. Entergy shuttered its Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in 2014 for the same reasons.

Dive Insight:

Gov. Cuomo's plan to support New York's upstate nuclear industry will be too late for one nuclear facility on the chopping block, officials from Entergy told Bloomberg Business.

“Whatever this proposal may turn out to be, it would not be in place in time,” Entergy spokeswoman Tammy Holden told Bloomberg in an email. “We do not know when the support might become effective, how much it might be, what terms and conditions would be applied to receiving support or many other important details.”

“If the state is focused on reducing CO2 emissions, the clean energy standard should apply to Indian Point,” Holden added.

While Cuomo is calling for support of New York's upstate nuclear generators, his administration is been fighting to close the Indian Point nuclear facility for several years, arguing it is not possible to safely operate a reactor so close to New York City, where some 20 million residents live within 50 miles of the plant.

Cuomo has vowed to use "every legal and regulatory avenue" in effort to save more than 600 jobs at the the 838 MW James A. FitzPatrick plant. Last week he announced regulators had approved the 10-year, $5 billion Clean Energy Fund, designed to bolster the state's grid while also attracting third-party capital to the state and lowering consumers' energy bills.

By 2020, the state's utilities will need to be supplying 15.7% of their forecasted load from nuclear facilities. Plans also call for utilities to grow renewables use to almost 30% across the same time frame, an interim step towards the state's plan to reach a 50% renewables goal by 2030.

Bloomberg Business reports that Exelon Corp. said earlier this week that the plan could help its three nuclear plants in the state. The R.E. Ginna nuclear plant is one of those facilities, and is slated to run through at 2018 thanks to a state settlement between state agencies and large consumers.