..”re-powering of a dormant plant such as Palisades would be a feat that has never been achieved before,” Holtec International CEO Kris Singh said.”
We can only wish them luck.
History suggests there may be hiccups, but clearly Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has made this a priority, perhaps in view of her ambitious plans to also promote renewable energy in the state.
Holtec International announced Tuesday the signing of a long-term power purchase agreement between its Palisades Energy subsidiary and Wolverine Power Cooperative, which provides energy to rural communities across Michigan.
The PPA signing represents a “giant step forward” on the repowering of the 800-MW Palisades Power Plant, Holtec said.
“The signing of this business agreement is a significant milestone to ensure assured operation of the facility and an enhanced carbon-free energy future for Michigan,” Holtec added.
Wolverine has committed to buy up to two-thirds of the power generated by Palisades for its member co-ops, with its non-profit rural electric cooperative project partner, Hoosier Energy, purchasing the rest.
Holtec International spokesperson Patrick O’Brien provided some additional details on the PPA.
“The agreement goes into effect upon restoration of generation capability, expected as early as late 2025. The term of the agreement is expected to coincide with the plant’s [Nuclear Regulatory Commission]-granted operating license (effective through 2031), plus a subsequent license renewal period Holtec anticipates pursuing with the NRC as part of the restart activities. It could cover decades,” O’Brien said in an email.
The PPA also has “a contract expansion provision to include up to two small modular reactors, rated at 300 MWe each, that Holtec intends to build and commission at the Palisades site.”
The Palisades nuclear plant closed in May 2022 due to tough financial conditions and was then acquired by Holtec in June 2022. According to Holtec, this would be the first time a shuttered nuclear plant has successfully restarted in the U.S.
“We are well aware that, although we see no real obstacles ahead, re-powering of a dormant plant such as Palisades would be a feat that has never been achieved before,” Holtec International CEO Kris Singh said in a statement.
Holtec submitted an application to the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office in early 2023 for federal loan funding to restart the Palisades plant.
“We are still working through the process with DOE’s loan program and expect late this year/early next year to hear a final decision,” O’Brien said in an email.
As for whether the PPA and the restart of the plant is contingent upon receiving the federal loan, O’Brien said, “finalization of the power purchase agreement is based on a number of factors including a successful repowering of the plant, predicated on financial support from” DOE’s Loan Program Office, the state of Michigan and Holtec.
The budget recently passed by the Michigan Legislature, now headed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature, includes significant funding to support the restart of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant.
Included in the $81.7 billion spending plan approved Wednesday, June 28, is $150 million for Palisades. State funding is one of several aspects plant owner Holtec International needs in order to facilitate the plant’s restart.
Any bets on lots of money spent, but not a single kilowatt generated.
history suggests there will be hiccups, but important for clean energy advocates to keep their eye on the ball, which is getting more clean energy sited. Palisades gives some security and cover to powerful allies like Governor Whitmer and the utilities and chamber of commerce types, which is critical. Getting clean energy sited means the market can better choose generation types going forward, and I’ll take that competition with Nuclear all day long.
Inevitably there will be small nuclear reactors built. they will have to prove themselves in the market place. If they are everything their supporters claim, perfect. Meanwhile, keep building solar and wind, as there is no decarbonizing scenario that does not include a lot of solar, wind and batteries (and transmission)
There’s a lot of new Federal money on the table to support nuclear.
There’ll be lots of money spent, but it’s worth it when you need lots of steady, reliable electricity to electrify more things.
You need power to meet the demand curve. Those old capital-intensive pumped hydro plants were needed to shift nighttime nuclear power for use during the day. AFAICT, nuclear power plants have expensive night shift requirements, so you have to run them near-continuously to make them cost-effective.
I wish the nuclear proponents would stop ignoring the highly variable daily demand curve.
Daily demand curve is much less variable than wind and solar output are. For example, today the MISO varied smoothly from 66 to 91GW – a rise of about 40%. Solar made zero, natch, for 13 hours, then up to 2.5GW, from 4.9GW capacity – not synchronised with demand peak. Wind only managed a maximum of 2.9GW, from 30GW of capacity, and again had a hiatus of no power at all for 12hrs. Nuclear ran like a metronome at 10GW, 83% of capacity, for 24hrs. To the north, on the much smaller Ontario grid, a similar amount of nuclear-9GW – ran with no curtailment all day. There nuclear made 76% of demand at the night minimum, down to 53% at the evening peak. Largely as a result, Ontario’s emissions per kWh were about one seventh as high as the MISO’s.
https://app.electricitymaps.com/zone/US-MIDW-MISO
My point was that nuclear’s straight line (with step functions now and then) has been touted as a be-all-end-all of the power grid without ever acknowledging that matching the demand curve is the goal.
Meanwhile, I’m hoping that China’s fiat government would be able build cost-effective nuclear power plants, because new plants in the US and Europe are too over-schedule and over-budget to save us in the near term while solar, wind and grid batteries are providing quick ROI (and carbon payback)
Hopefully, a bit closer to home, the Ontario govt manages it. They’ve just refurbished a bunch of Candu reactors at budget and under schedule, and have committed to building more large and small plants. Candus need an extensive refit at ~30yrs, so project management and trade skills weren’t lost.
Well, it looks like Ontario doesn’t have the mish-mash of utilities, investors, etc., and might even have consistent construction contracts. They also don’t have state (provincial) government owned by the coal or gas industries.
https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/en/data-analysis/energy-commodities/natural-gas/report/archive/primer-understanding-shale-gas-2009/images/f01-eng.jpg
[Whoa! I only just learned that the CAN in CANDU stands for Canada. How did I not know that?]