Exelon blames ‘subsidized’ wind, markets for derailing nuclear projects

Exelon blames ‘subsidized’ wind, markets for derailing nuclear projects | Midwest Energy News: 

Exelon Corp. is scrapping expansion plans at nuclear plants in Illinois and Pennsylvania because of waning demand for electricity and competition with subsidized wind generators.
The country’s largest owner of nuclear reactors announced Wednesday it would sideline plans to add capacity to its LaSalle nuclear plant 75 miles southwest of Chicago and its Limerick plant 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Exelon has added about 1,400 megawatts of power to the grid by conducting “extended power uprates” at its nuclear plants, a process that involves installing larger pumps and valves with greater capacity to increase a reactor’s output by up to 20 percent.
That process at the LaSalle and Limerick plants, however, was derailed by market conditions and cheap wind, and Exelon has instead decided to take a $100 million hit in the second quarter, according to the filing.
...
Exelon continues to have a strong position in nuclear power, and Elsberg said the company is still on track to add capacity at its Peach Bottom plant in Pennsylvania and its Braidwood plant in Illinois for an additional 200 MW by 2016.

The entire article can be read at Midwest Energy News