Exelon, America’s Leading Nuclear Generator, Keeps the Faith on Nukes

2016-07-11

Chicago-based Exelon Corp., the largest nuclear power generator in the U.S., is facing what could be the greatest challenge in the company’s history. Exelon confronts the potential shutdown of six operating nuclear generating units at four stations, out of a fleet of 23 units at 14 stations across the country. This comes after Exelon essentially abandoned coal, selling off its interests in coal-fired generation. In late 2014, the company unloaded its last minority shares in major coal generation, the Keystone (42%) and Conemaugh (32%) plants in central Pennsylvania, once a significant element in its power mix (see sidebar “Exelon’s Generating Fleet”). RTO Insidernewsletter commented, “Exelon once had extensive coal-fired generation but has either sold or retired them over the years as it concentrated on new gas-fired generation and its massive nuclear fleet.” According to Exelon’s website, its generation profile today is 64% nuclear, 20% natural gas, 5% hydro, 4% wind, 4% gas and oil, 3% oil, and 1% solar. The company says it has 32,700 MW of owned capacity “comprising one of the nation’s cleanest, lowest-cost power generation fleets.” It does business in 48 states and “has 10 million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania through its Atlantic City Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco subsidiaries.” The company’s fleet of 23 nuclear units has six plants located in its traditional service territory of Illinois (Quad Cities, Byron, Dresden, Braidwood, LaSalle, and Clinton); six plants in the Middle Atlantic states, all a result of mergers (Three Mile Island, Limerick, and Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania, plus Oyster Creek in New Jersey and Calvert Cliffs in Maryland); and Fort Calhoun in Nebraska (which Exelon operates under contract for owner Omaha Public Power District, although that plant is slated to close by year end for economic reasons). As it has exited coal generation, Exelon has put considerable emphasis on natural gas, partly as peaking power to coordinate with its 24/7 baseload nuclear capacity but also for baseload and load following. The eight-unit, 352-MW Southeast Chicago Energy Project, for example, is a blackstart simple-cycle turbine plant designed to provide instant power (Figure 3). Similarly, Exelon’s ExTex LaPorte near Houston, Texas, has four combustion turbines, with a combined capacity of 152 MW, designed for peaking service.