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Keeping the lights on reliably is the primary responsibility of Illinois’ state-of-the-art nuclear energy facilities

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[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Over the past decade, our nation’s power generation system has changed dramatically. Previously, our grid was almost entirely powered on plants like nuclear and coal, which have fuel on site and and generate energy 24/7.

Unfortunately, a shift in power sources has led us to a system that is no longer sufficiently reliable. This is especially true during extreme weather, like the polar vortex of 2014, when PJM, which operates the electric grid in portions of 13 states from northern Illinois to the mid-Atlantic, lost 22 percent of the electric power generation in its region and came dangerously close to a large-scale blackout.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) wants to ensure that our grid has enough electricity always available to power up our homes, businesses and our communities regardless of circumstances, which is why they approved critical reforms to strengthen the region’s power supply and reward our always-on energy sources like nuclear energy. These reforms will increase reliability by paying only those power plants that deliver power when promised—especially in the hottest or coldest weather—and imposing financial penalties on those that don’t. PJM has begun to hold capacity auctions under the new reforms to ensure that our region has enough electricity to power customers’ needs in the years to come and incentivize generators to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to harden their power plants against extreme weather. Two additional auctions will occur over the next few weeks.

Now is the time to ensure our grid’s reliability, which is why we need to preserve our current fleet of nuclear energy facilities – the most reliable source of energy we have. Even though these highly efficient plants have decades of useful life left, power prices have dropped substantially over the past several years and continue to decline, challenging three at-risk facilities. If Illinois fails to act and these plants retire early because of outdated energy policies, it faces:

The Low Carbon Portfolio Standard will ensure that low carbon sources of energy, like nuclear energy, are preserved to ensure our electric grid remains reliable.

Learn more at www.NuclearPowersIllinois.com or find us on Facebook at facebook.com/NuclearPowersIL and Twitter at @NuclearPowersIL.

posted by Advertising Department
Friday, Aug 21, 15 @ 9:59 am

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