Welcome to Grid Brief! Here’s what we’re looking at today: efforts to revive old nuclear power plants, states look to combat NIMBYism, and Meta agrees to deal with geothermal provider.

Will America’s Energy Past Power Its Energy Future?

Concerns over future grid reliability and costs are forcing regulators, utilities, and the government to adopt a novel energy strategy: turning on old and shuttered nuclear power plants.

In March, the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office announced a conditional loan guarantee of $1.52 billion to Holtec for the restart of the 805 MWe Palisades Nuclear Plant in Covert, Michigan. The plant began the decommissioning process in 2022. If Palisades receives approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission—a decision is expected by 2025—it will become the first nuclear power plant in the world to restart after decommissioning.

In a recent article, The Wall Street Journal’s Eric Niiler provides a detailed look at what Holtec is doing to bring Palisades back to life. This includes replacing bell bearings in the plant’s pumps and motors, inspecting and cleaning piping from the steam generators, and preparing to move spent fuel from spent fuel pools to dry cask storage.

Palisades has opened up discussions about restarting Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania, which closed in 2019 due to economics, and Duane Arnold in Iowa, which was shuttered in 2020 after a wind storm damaged the plant’s cooling towers. Constellation has said that it could reopen TMI 1 within three years. NextEra, who owns Duane Arnold, has indicated that it is open to restarting the plant.

Restarting either of these plants would require support from the state and federal governments. While the cost is unknown, it is worth noting that the initial pricetag of the Palisades restart—$1.5 billion from the federal government and $300 million from Michigan—is less than the over $30 billion (~$12 billion in federal loan guarantees) it took to build Vogtle 3 and 4.

Turning to our energy past may be a cheaper option for powering our energy future.

State Initiatives to Combat NIMBYism

24 states and Washington D.C. have implemented 100% clean energy goals, according to the CleanEnergy States Alliance. Despite these ambitious targets, several states are struggling to meet these goals due to several factors including NIMBYism.

The Not In My Back Yard movement has impacted nuclear power, solar, wind, and CO2 pipeline projects. Some states are devising carrots and sticks to encourage local acceptance of critical energy projects, reports Brian Martucci of UtilityDive.

Several Michigan townships and counties have enacted moratoriums on utility-scale solar projects, citing concerns over the environment and property values. In response, the state government enacted the Renewables Ready Community Award program last year. The RRCA “awards $5,000/MW to communities that permit and physically host utility-scale renewable energy projects or $2,500/MW to communities that do one or the other.”

Indiana, meanwhile, has created the Indiana Commercial Solar and Wind Energy Ready Communities Development Center which provides “general information about renewables development and offers a certification program for communities that implement wind- and solar-friendly ordinances.”

The program is voluntary and serves to demystify renewable projects in the Hoosier state.

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Conversation Starters

• Tesla’s Supercharging network remains closed to rivals (New York Times)

  Despite plans to open up its Supercharger network, other EVs can still not access these chargers. Tesla says it is working to open up access but is facing challenges of software delays and hardware shortages.

• Facebook inks agreement for geothermal (Meta)

  Meta has partnered with Sage Geosystems to use geothermal to power its data centers. The partnership aims to bring 150 MWh of geothermal online by 2027.

• This startup is ridding waterways of PFAS chemicals (C3 News Magazine)

  Oxyle, a Zurich-based water treatment company, has created an advanced purification system that effectively eliminates 99% of long-, medium-, and short-chain PFAS to levels below detection, all while consuming 15 times less energy than traditional methods.

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