New York’s Public Service Commission on Monday approved Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Clean Energy Standard, which could pay upstate nuclear power plant operators up to $1 billion in zero-emission energy credits over the first two years of the program.
The four-member board voted 3-1 in support of the plan, with one commissioner registering a “concur” vote, which is considered a reserved “yes.” Supporters, most notably utilities Exelon and Entergy, have argued that the zero-emission credit program is vital for keeping upstate plants alive and that nuclear must be part of the equation if New York is to reach Cuomo’s goal of having 50 percent of the state’s power come from renewable sources by 2030. Environmentalists and other opponents have argued that the program will drive windfall profits for nuclear operators when cleaner, more affordable alternatives like wind and solar exist.
Entergy’s James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant and Exelon’s R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant and Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station are either scheduled or expected to close, with the operators citing economic hardship. Exelon has been in discussions with Entergy to purchase FitzPatrick, while betting on PSC approval of the credit program to sustain its current sites. The company has said the deal could be finalized as early as mid-August. The zero-emission credits will be available starting in April 2017, pending administrative approvals from the PSC.
“Bottom line, preventing the premature closure of carbon-free, 24/7, nuclear facilities is, in my opinion, a wise policy,” Commissioner Diane X. Burman, who registered the “concur” vote, said Monday during the PSC meeting.
The Alliance for a Green Economy and three other environmental gorups filed a joint letter with the PSC opposing the credit program, saying it will result in “likely the largest gift of public funds to a single corporation in New York’s history.” The groups said the credits will cost the state anywhere from $7.6 billion to $10 billion over the course of the program.
The PSC in Monday’s order stated that while the first two years of payments are calculated to be as much as $965 million, the state will achieve a carbon-reduction benefit of $1.4 billion.
