Entergy Gives Palisades Nuclear Plant Five More Years to Run
Entergy Corp. will keep the Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert, Michigan, open until the spring of 2022, owing to a shortfall in recovery granted to Consumers Energy by state regulators.
In a bid to actively exit the merchant nuclear power business, investor-owned Entergy had decided to shutter the 798-MW plant by October 1, 2018. “Market conditions have changed substantially, and more economic alternatives are now available to provide reliable power to the region,” it said when it announced its decision about a year ago.
The decision came as a surprise because Entergy has a power purchase agreement with Consumers Energy—Michigan’s largest utility and the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy—which committed the company to buying nearly all the power generated at Palisades through April 2022. Entergy reasoned the plant’s closure could save Consumers’ customers as much as $ 172 million over four years, even after Consumers paid Entergy $ 172 million to terminate the contract.
On September 22, however, the Michigan Public Service Commission granted Consumers a recovery of only $ 136.6 million of the $ 172 million it requested for the buyout of the power purchase agreement. …
