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Renewable energy groups pan Trump administration's coal, nuclear proposals

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Renewable energy groups pan Trump administration's coal, nuclear proposals

SNL Image

Smoke rises from the Colstrip Steam Electric Station, a coal-burning power plant in Colstrip, Mont.
Source: Associated Press

The renewable energy industry lashed out at the Trump administration on June 7 for its continued efforts to prop up struggling nuclear and coal-fired power plants, joining with critics from the natural gas sector who say the latest plan from the U.S. Department of Energy would be ineffective and costly to consumers.

"Going to this bailout of nuke and coal, it is concerning. I think every authority that's looked at this has said this doesn't make sense, and yet the train keeps moving in a negative direction," Dan Whitten, vice president of communications at the Solar Energy Industries Association trade group, said at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, D.C.

The DOE said in a draft document that it could push grid operators to buy electricity from struggling nuclear and coal-fired power plants, arguing that the resources are needed for the national defense and to avert an emergency shortfall in energy. In January, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected a proposed rule from the DOE that would have extended more financial support to nuclear and coal plants for the reliability benefits the department said they provide.

Before the DOE memo was leaked to the press, Mike Nasi, a lawyer with Jackson Walker LLP, told attendees at a coal industry gathering that there is "great wisdom is what the secretary of energy and the president are trying to push"

SNL Image

A solar panel array collects sunlight in Fremont, Neb., with a power plant seen behind it.
Source: Associated Press

'We're fighting'

"The president, every time he launches an initiative, gets this massive response of mockery from market gurus and renewable and other well-financed opposition groups," Nasi said. "The mockery needs to stop, and the reality check needs to start. We need to preserve this fleet."

Exelon Corp. CEO Chris Crane, whose company owns a substantial amount of nuclear generation, applauded the Trump administration for trying to prevent more nuclear power plants from closing, though he said the administration has not provided enough information to judge whether the use of emergency authorities is justified.

The grid operator PJM Interconnection recently said federal intervention is unnecessary and would be damaging to power markets.

"The men and women that are managing the grid day in, day out are on the record saying that the orderly phaseout of some of these very expensive coal and nuclear plants does not constitute an emergency," Tom Kiernan, CEO of the American Wind Energy Association Trade group, said June 7 at the Atlantic Council.

Greg Wetstone, president and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy, said the continued talk of market intervention "makes life ... a lot more difficult" for businesses and investors.

"Obviously, business and investment like certainty," Wetstone said. "The question is what happens to that investment when you don't have confidence that we have a marketplace with integrity."

The Trump administration seems to be pursuing "really bad policy," Whitten said, "and we're fighting that."