Energy’s fight for power
Nuclear subsidies and ‘green jobs’ bills compete
ENERGY | Patrick Yeagle
There’s a war raging over Illinois’ energy future, pitting nuclear power against renewable resources. The winner will determine how Illinois generates electricity for decades to come.
Coal power is projected to become less economical in the coming years due to new pollution restrictions, prompting a reshuffling of Illinois’ coal-heavy energy portfolio. Energy generator Exelon is seeking the state’s help to keep its nuclear plants in Illinois running, but “green” energy advocates are calling the proposal a bailout, instead pressing for investments in solar, wind and other renewable energy sources.
Two pieces of identical legislation – Senate Bill 1585 and House Bill 3293 – would create a “Low Carbon Portfolio Standard” for Illinois, creating a preference for energy that was generated with a small or nonexistent carbon dioxide footprint. Under the state’s existing “Renewable Portfolio Standard,” a certain proportion of electricity generated in Illinois must come from renewable resources. Exelon’s proposal would create a parallel standard for lowcarbon energy, thereby adding nuclear power to the list of energy sources preferred by the state.
Here’s how it would work: the Illinois Power Agency acts as a negotiator between companies that generate electricity and those that transmit it to customers, preventing potential collusion between sister companies. If Exelon’s proposal becomes law, 70 percent of the energy IPA purchases from each generation company would have to come from low-carbon sources like Exelon’s five Illinois nuclear plants.
The House version of the bill appears to be dead in committee, but the Senate version awaits a full vote in that chamber.
A different set of identical bills – House Bill 2607 and Senate Bill 1485 – seeks to shift Illinois away from both fossil fuels and nuclear power. The bills would increase the state quota for renewable energy from 25 percent by 2025 to 35 percent by 2030, while also mandating measures to cut energy demand 20 percent by 2025.
David Kraft, executive director of the antinuclear group Nuclear Energy Information Service, says Exelon’s proposal would allow the company to sell the pollution credits it gets for not emitting carbon dioxide to coal plants, essentially allowing those coal plants to buy their way around pollution limits. He characterizes the Low Carbon Portfolio Standard as a bailout for nuclear power and even for coal.
Kraft’s biggest objection to nuclear power is the problem of what to do with the highly radioactive waste it produces. Typically, spent nuclear fuel is stored in pools of water to cool before being transferred to “dry casks” for longer term storage. The federal government has shelved plans for a facility in Nevada to permanently store nuclear waste, much of which will require thousands or even millions of years to become safe.
“Exelon is trying to position their nuclear fleet nationally as a source of clean energy, based on a very, very narrow definition of ‘clean’ in the sense of less carbon dioxide,” Kraft said. “The bottom line is that an energy policy which trades more plutonium for less carbon is worthless.”
Exelon spokesman Paul Elsberg responds that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities, has determined that used fuel can be stored safely at power plants for at least 120 years.
Elsberg says Illinois needs an “all-of-theabove” energy strategy that incorporates nuclear power, coal, natural gas and the renewable resources Kraft calls for. He says nuclear power is “undervalued” in Illinois because of how the energy market is structured and because state programs give preference to other low-carbon electricity options over nuclear.
“These flaws need to be corrected, and that’s what the Low Carbon Portfolio Standard seeks to do,” Elsberg said. “If nuclear energy were permitted to compete on equal footing to supply the state’s low-carbon electricity, it could do so very competitively.”
Additionally, Elsberg says the Low Carbon Portfolio Standard contains protections for ratepayers, like limiting rate increases to 2.015 percent annually, with rebates if energy prices rise too high.
In May 2014, House Speaker Michael Madigan signaled support of nuclear power with a resolution calling for the continued operation of Illinois’ nuclear plants. However, Kraft believes Madigan’s measure was more about preserving jobs than about supporting nuclear power. He says the “green jobs” bills his group supports would create 32,000 jobs, many times more than the 8,000 jobs Exelon says would be lost if it closes three nuclear plants. Elsberg says Kraft’s estimate has “not stood up to scrutiny,” adding that many of the jobs included in Kraft’s 32,000 are temporary construction jobs.
Nuclear power represents about 24 percent of Illinois’ total electricity generation capacity, but it accounts for about 48 percent of all electricity generated in Illinois because nuclear plants operate continuously, unlike coal and natural gas plants, which operate in spurts depending on demand and fuel prices.
By comparison, wind power accounts for about 7 percent of Illinois’ generation capacity, while solar power and hydroelectric each represent about a tenth of a percent of capacity.
Clinton Power Station, located about 45 miles northeast of Springfield, generates 1,065 megawatts of electricity at a time. It’s the closest nuclear plant to Springfield, and it is one of three in Illinois which Exelon has identified as unprofitable.
Kraft says if Illinois is ever going to invest in renewable energy that uses zero-cost fuel – wind, solar and water – now is the time, but he accuses Exelon of trying to “buy off” the legislature to make it more difficult for renewable energy sources to flourish. Kraft argues that nuclear power’s generating capacity is no longer needed because of existing and emerging energy storage systems, residential wind and solar installations and other technology.
“The problem is that it doesn’t work unless you actually build those things,” he said.
Contact Patrick Yeagle at pyeagle@illinoistimes.com.
