- FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) has asked the Trump administration to intervene to keep struggling nuclear and coal-fired power plants running across the Midwest and maintain the future reliability of the region’s electric grid.
- FE wants U.S. Energy Secretary Perry to issue an emergency order for regional power grid operator PJM Interconnection to negotiate contracts that compensate the owners of coal and nuclear plants “for the full benefits (those units) provide to energy markets.”
- The company sent its request after late yesterday announcing plans to close three nuclear power plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania by 2021 if it cannot sell them.
- FE’s fleet of coal and nuclear plants has been near bankruptcy, hit like many of its U.S. peers by competition from cleaner gas-fired and renewable power generators that have become cheaper to run in the past decade.
- Now read: Of 91 Utilities, 24 Pay 'Safer' Dividends To January 2019
Original article