Dive Brief:

• Exelon has been meeting with Illinois lawmakers to figure out a way to keep three nuclear plants that are unprofitable or barely making money from shutting down.
• The facilities at risk from the weak wholesale power market are the 2,319-MW Byron, 1,403-MW Quad Cities and 1,067-MW Clinton plants.
• Exelon and state lawmakers are in early discussions and no clear plan has emerged yet. One possibility is to create a “clean energy standard” that credits nuclear plants for their lack of air emissions. The company has ruled out entering into power purchase agreements with the state.

Dive Insight:

Exelon has been saying that its nuclear fleet is under pressure from low power prices and this is an early sign that the company is looking for a legislative solution to the issue. Lawmakers will have to decide if they want to support power plants that can't make a go of it in the competitive market.