Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

FirstEnergy Seeks Emergency Federal Bailout for Coal and Nuclear Plants

GreenTech Media: FirstEnergy has asked the U.S. Department of Energy to declare an emergency that would secure higher prices for its money-losing coal and nuclear power plants, claiming that their closure would destabilize the power grids they serve.

But the request faces an uphill battle. A similar request from Murray Energy, the coal company that serves FirstEnergy’s fleet of power plants, was denied by the Trump administration last year.

Despite reports that DOE might be planning a bailout for FirstEnergy, the head of DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability told reporters in February that neither he nor Energy Secretary Rick Perry would consider using the agency’s powers to support uneconomic power plants.

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