To prevent blackouts, Trump administration keeps another aging power plant online through summer

Globe and Mail

2 days ago

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy has ordered another power plant, this time an oil and gas plant in Pennsylvania, to keep its turbines running through the hottest summer months as a precaution against electricity shortfalls in the 13-state mid-Atlantic grid.
The department's order to the grid operator, PJM Interconnection, regarding the Eddystone power plant just south of Philadelphia on the Delaware River, is the department's second use of federal power under President Donald Trump to require a power plant to keep operating on the mainland United States.
Constellation Energy had planned to shut down Eddystone's units 3 and 4 on Saturday, but Trump's Department of Energy ordered the company to continue operating the units until at least Aug. 28. The units can produce a combined 760 megawatts.
The department, in its order, cited PJM's growing concerns about power shortfalls amid the shutdown of aging power plants and rising electricity demand. PJM has projected significant growth in electricity use to power America's fast-rising demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing platforms.
Demand for electricity has spiked for the first time in decades. In addition to artificial intelligence, crypto mining, the broader electrification of society and bipartisan political pressure to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. are fueling new electricity demand.
PJM last year approved Constellation's request to shut down the units, but it welcomed the department's order to keep them operating, saying it's a 'prudent, term-limited step' that allows PJM, the department and Constellation to study the longer-term need and viability of Eddystone's units.
In a statement Monday, Constellation said it is 'pleased' to work with the department and PJM and is taking emergency measures to meet the need for power 'at this critical time when America must win the AI race.'
It also said it is trying to accelerate its restart of Three Mile Island 's Unit 1 to bring it online in 2027, instead of in 2028, as part of a deal to supply data centers run by tech giant Microsoft with carbon-free energy.
PJM, based in Pennsylvania, earlier this year won federal approval to fast-track the construction of new power plants that critics said would favor natural gas plants over clean energy projects that don't emit planet-warming greenhouse gases.
PJM has said a power shortage could affect the grid as early as 2026 as demand grows for electricity at the same time that aging coal-fired plants and nuclear plants are retiring. Clean energy advocates blame PJM for creating the existing reliability problem by taking an unduly long time to study proposed wind and solar energy projects in its project queue.
Proposals awaiting PJM's approval are more than 97% solar, wind or battery storage, according to federal figures. Less than 3% are natural gas.
The department took a similar step last week, ordering Consumers Energy to keep the J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant open in Michigan past its Saturday retirement.
The grid operator there, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, said the order was unnecessary, that there was no energy emergency there and that there should be enough energy in the region through the summer.
An environmental advocacy group, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, criticized the move to keep Eddystone operating as an "environmental injustice." Shutting down the units would reduce hazardous pollution and carbon emissions from the decades-old facility and help the region meet federal clean air standards for smog, it said.
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