Benzinga | Jun 3, 2021 06:19AM EDT

Exelon Corporation Learned The Results Of The First PJM Capacity Auction Held Since 2018 For The 2022-2023 Planning Year; The Co.'s Byron, Dresden And Quad Cities Nuclear Plants Did Not Clear In The Auction

On June 2, 2021, Exelon Corporation (Exelon) learned the results of the first PJM capacity auction held since 2018 for the 2022-2023 planning year. Exelon Generation Company, LLC's (Generation's) Byron, Dresden and Quad Cities nuclear plants did not clear in the auction.



The Byron Generating Station, located just outside Byron, Illinois, and Dresden Generating Station, located in Morris, Illinois, are currently scheduled to retire prematurely this fall. The Braidwood and LaSalle nuclear plants cleared in the auction for the upcoming year but, like Byron and Dresden, they face premature retirement due to unfavorable market rules that favor emitting generation. Committing Braidwood and LaSalle to operate through May 2023 will provide time for the significant logistical and technical planning necessary to ensure a safe and orderly retirement in the event policy changes are not enacted.



Despite also not clearing in the auction, Generation's Quad Cities plant will continue to operate with support provided under the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act, a clean energy law that took effect in 2017. The Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) recently implemented by PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. prevented Quad Cities from clearing in the capacity auction. The result is that customers in Northern Illinois and throughout PJM will pay for more capacity from polluting generation instead of securing carbon-free megawatts from Quad Cities, at what would have been a lower cost absent the MOPR. At the direction of the PJM Board of Managers, PJM and its stakeholders are considering MOPR reforms to ensure that the capacity market rules respect and accommodate state resource preferences.



All of Generation's other nuclear and fossil generation power plants located in the PJM market cleared in the auction. The auction results take effect June 1, 2022.