Feds Postpone Pennsylvania Power Plant Retirement

Written by Jesse Broehl for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With Constellation Energy Corporation's (Baltimore, Maryland) Eddystone Generating Station units 3 and 4 (totaling 861 megawatts in capacity) in Pennsylvania set to close in third-quarter 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) stepped in on Friday to pause the closure temporarily. The order will expire August 28, and requires proof of compliance by June 15. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Plant Database can click here for the plant profile.

While specific to these units, the DOE's order determined broadly that an emergency exists in the PJM Interconnection (PJM) due to resource adequacy concerns, and that upcoming retirements, including the planned retirement of Unit 3 and Unit 4 of the Eddystone Generating Station, will exacerbate these potential generation, reactive supply and voltage control issues.

Not Much Changes Except The Closure Date

• Units may run only for the hours necessary to meet emergency needs.
• PJM must employ economic dispatch of the units to minimize cost to ratepayers.
• PJM must provide a daily notification to the DOE on compliance with this order.

Plant Owner Wanted the Retirement
Constellation wanted to fully retire the 65-year-old natural gas power plant by May 31. Specific justification by Constellation was not available in time for this story, but in most cases these retirements are decided by the owner because aging plants face rising operational expenses or are no longer uneconomical.

Grid Operator Supports DOE Extension
The grid operator, PJM, performed resource and grid studies and noted in first-quarter 2024 that it did not identify any reliability violations resulting from the proposed deactivation.

However, PJM supported the DOE decision to keep the plant running. PJM's May 30 statement voices its concerns over "...the growing risk of a supply and demand imbalance driven by the confluence of generator retirements and demand growth." It called the order a prudent, term-limited step that will retain the covered generators for a 90-day period while Constellation Energy and PJM undertake further analysis regarding the longer-term need and viability of these generators.

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