Welcome to Grid Brief! Here’s what we’re looking at today: operators in favor of reopening Three Mile Island, the U.S. lags on climate goals, and the Earth’s second moon.

Constellation Greenlights Three Mile Island Reopening

On Friday, Constellation Energy and Microsoft announced the restart of Three Mile Island Unit 1 (TMI 1) near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Under the agreement, Constellation will revive TMI 1 and sell its energy to Microsoft to power the tech giant’s data centers. Microsoft has already signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation, which expects the restart of TMI 1 to be around $1.6 billion if it is brought online by 2028.

After generating electricity for 40 years, TMI 1 shut down in 2019 due to economics. Since then, the plant has been undergoing decommissioning. Unit 1 sits next to the infamous Three Mile Island Unit 2, whose partial meltdown was the worst nuclear incident in American history (no one was killed or injured from the accident and background radiation in the area did not increase).

Despite the enthusiasm from Constellation and Microsoft, the plan still has to be approved by federal regulators and state lawmakers. Reuters reports that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to receive an application from Constellation for the TMI restart.

Constellation could very well receive federal support for the restart. Earlier this year the decommissioned Palisades Nuclear Generating Station received a $1.5 billion loan from the Department of Energy (DOE) to resume operations. After this, DOE found that two other sites in the U.S. had the characteristics of a Palisades-esque restart: Duane Arnold in Iowa and TMI 1.

The U.S. Lags on Climate Goals

Business leaders, governments, and NGOs are gathering in New York City this week for the annual Climate Week. The meeting comes as global emissions are on the rise, temperatures are expected to reach record highs, power demand surges, and states struggle to meet ambitious climate targets.

New York, for instance, is falling behind on its goal to get 70 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2030 because of permitting delays and rising costs. Similarly, California is well behind its ambitious renewable energy and emissions reduction goals as the state has turned to in-state and out-of-state natural gas to provide baseload power to its fleet of renewables.

A clear underlying theme we’re seeing in every state is that the country needs a more efficient and modernized permitting process. Whether it be offshore wind, nuclear power, or liquified natural gas (which has allowed to U.S. to reduce emissions by replacing coal production) the current permitting process slows down key energy projects, increases costs, and disincentivizes innovation.

However, good news remains. Yesterday, fourteen of the world’s largest banks, including Barclays and Bank of America, announced that they would increase their support for nuclear power projects. Meanwhile, more than 40 percent of the world’s electricity came from low-carbon sources last year, according to BloombergNEF, although a majority of this growth occurred in China.

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Conversation Starters

• National Clean Energy Week kicks off (CRES)

  While Climate Week takes place in NYC, Washington DC will be home to the 8th annual National Clean Energy Week (NCEW) presented by Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES). NCEW includes in-person and virtual panel discussions, exclusive policy seminars, and networking opportunities. Learn more here.

• Air Company raises $69 million in Series B (Finsms)

  Air Company specializes in producing sustainable aviation fuel from captured industrial carbon dioxide. The funding round was led by Toyota Ventures, JetBlue Ventures, and Alaska Airlines.

• Earth will have two moons this month (Axios)

  A new study in The Research Notes of the AAS journal has found that the Earth will have two moons from September 29th through November 25. The second “moon” will be a tiny asteroid that will fall into the Earth’s gravitational pull while following a horseshoe path on its way home to an asteroid belt orbiting the sun. The second “moon” will likely be too small and dim for typical amateur telescopes and binoculars and is not expected to make a full orbit around the Earth.

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