The Generation Professionals Group is for utility professionals who work in biomass, coal, gas/oil, hydro, natural gas, or nuclear power generation fields.

Post

It is hard to keep a good plant down!

image credit: Wikimedia Commons, Palisades Generating Station

Kent Knutson 118,572

Energy Market Specialist, Hitachi Energy USA Inc.

Kent Knutson is a market specialist focusing on energy industry intelligence for Hitachi Energy. He has more than 30 years of experience designing and developing intelligence products for some...

Member since 2018
350 items added with 218,667 views

Contact

Profile

Mar 27, 2024Mar 27, 2024 7:50 pm GMT
171 views

Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment of up to $1.52 billion for a loan guarantee to Holtec International Palisades, LLC (Holtec Palisades) to finance the restoration and resumption of service of the 800-MW Palisades Nuclear Generating Station in Covert Township, Michigan. The plant ceased operations in May of 2022. When the project is recommissioned in 2025, the plant is expected to produce baseload zero-carbon power until at least 2051. Since Palisades came online in 1971, the plant has produced more than 230 million megawatt hours (MWh). The 7 million MWh produced by Palisades in 2021 accounted for 6.1% of total electricity production in Michigan, and more than one-fifth of all nuclear power production in the state.

DOE/Loan Program press release: https://lnkd.in/dE3SbVxh

Power Magazine story: https://lnkd.in/dg3mqJV9

Discussions

Sign in to Participate

Matt Chester on Mar 27, 2024

Do you think this would be the start of a trend for other 'endangered' nuclear plants?

Kent Knutson on Mar 27, 2024

This is the first to be brought back from the 'dead' -- post-retirement. Most of the current fleet of nuclear plants have had their licenses extended or postponed retirement -- like Diablo Canyon, etc. It would be interesting if New Yorkers were to consider bringing back Indian Point. That would be something! Matt, thx for your comment.

David Wagman on Mar 28, 2024

Baseload nukes and renewables = pathway to carbon-free electric power generation. Will be interesting to see if the plant can be adequately staffed and if the SMR portion of Holtec's plan for the Palisades site can progress.

Kent Knutson on Mar 28, 2024

Hi David, it is great to hear from you. It certainly is interesting times we live in. Pretty much every grid operator is sounding the alarm that they need dispatchable resources to augment the big growth in wind and solar. Nuclear, hydro, and geothermal are the only carbon-free dispatchable resources. Keeping the nuclear fleet running is paramount to reliability. Now if we could just keep electricity affordable all will be good. Right? LOL!

Thank Kent for the Post!

Energy Central contributors share their experience and insights for the benefit of other Members (like you). Please show them your appreciation by leaving a comment, 'liking' this post, or following this Member.

Follow Profile

Get Published - Build a Following

The Energy Central Power Industry Network® is based on one core idea - power industry professionals helping each other and advancing the industry by sharing and learning from each other.

If you have an experience or insight to share or have learned something from a conference or seminar, your peers and colleagues on Energy Central want to hear about it. It's also easy to share a link to an article you've liked or an industry resource that you think would be helpful.

Start a Post » Learn more about posting on Energy Central »