Data from regional transmission organization (RTO) PJM Interconnection shows about 630 MW of power generation will be taken offline in the grid operator’s territory in April, with more than 3,600 MW scheduled to be retired this year, according to the organization’s website. This month’s deactivations are scheduled to begin April 16.

Last week, Ohio power company FirstEnergy said its competitive arm would close four uneconomic nuclear units in PJM with generation capacity of 4 GW by year-end 2021. Then over the weekend, FirstEnergy’s coal and nuclear generation divisions filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

FirstEnergy Solutions (FES), FirstEnergy’s power plant subsidiary, on March 29 wrote a letter to Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Rick Perry, asking Perry to “find that an emergency condition exists” in PJM, and wanting the grid operator to compensate coal and nuclear plants in the RTO for their “fuel security and diversity” benefits—akin to the outline of the DOE’s “Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule” proffered last fall that directed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to require that independent system operators (ISOs) and RTOs “establish just and reasonable rates for wholesale electricity sales” for power plants that show “reliability and resiliency attributes.”…

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