Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

Secretary Perry Seeks Market Rules That ‘Properly Value’ Coal, Nuclear Generation

Renewable Energy World: The U.S. Department of Energy today said that energy markets are not fairly valuing bulk power generation resources, such as coal and nuclear plants, and that federal regulators need to do something about it.

In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) released today, Secretary Rick Perry proposed that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issue a final rule requiring its organized markets to develop and implement rules that accurately price generation resources necessary to maintain the reliability and resiliency of the U.S. bulk power system. FERC has 90 days to act on the NOPR following its publication in the Federal Register.

The NOPR follows the release in August of the DOE staff report on the status of the U.S. electricity grid — a study that was meant to identify why coal plants are retiring and whether certain energy policies were causing grid instability. About 12,700 MW of coal generation is set to retire by 2020.

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