Loss of Vermont Yankee may not affect region's power supply, officials say

Aug 29 - Meghan Foley The Keene Sentinel, N.H.

The loss of a nuclear power plant that once provided Vermont with one-third of its electricity won't affect the region's power supply, according to energy officials.

During the past 41 years, the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station has produced an average of 650 megawatt hours per hour to help the New England region meet its energy needs, according to company officials. That contribution is expected to end late next year when the owner of the power plant, Entergy Corp., plans to close it down.

Following Entergy's Monday announcement of the pending shutdown, ISO New England, which operates the region's high-voltage power grid and administers its wholesale electricity market, issued a statement saying the closure won't cause a shortage of electricity in the region. The region covers the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Marcia C. Blomberg, a spokeswoman for ISO New England, said she couldn't speculate whether the closure of Vermont Yankee would affect electricity rates.

Mary Powell, president and chief executive officer of Green Mountain Power Corp., also released a statement, saying the utility company hadn't bought electricity from Vermont Yankee since March 2012.

"Entergy's decision to close the plant for financial reasons will not affect GMP customers," she said.

Green Mountain Power distributes electricity to about 75 percent of residences, business and institutions in Vermont.

While the company no longer buys power from Vermont Yankee, Green Mountain Power customers likely receive some electricity generated from the plant because of how the New England power grid is designed.

There are more than 350 sources that generate electricity for the New England power grid, Blomberg said Wednesday.

For example, imagine the regional power grid as a swimming pool.

Vermont Yankee is one of many hoses feeding water into that pool. The water in the hose represents electricity being produced by Vermont Yankee.

When the water flows into the pool, it mixes with water flowing out of the other hoses, which represent other electricity generators. When some of the water is transferred to a smaller pool, it's impossible to determine which hose it came from.

"Electricity is a little bit like water," Blomberg said. "Once it gets into the pipeline, there is no distinguishing where it came from."

ISO New England's pool is more than 8,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines the company operates, she said.

Lacey P. Ryan, another ISO New England spokeswoman, said electricity tends to take the path of least resistance, and goes to the closest source demanding it.

"It's likely that some of VY's power is flowing into Vermont, and it also could be flowing into other states," she said.

Vermont Yankee sends all its electricity to ISO New England, said Robert O. Williams, a spokesman for Entergy Vermont Yankee. Public utility companies then use electricity from the ISO grid to supply their customers.

ISO New England officials studied the reliability of the region's power grid for more than four years, according to the statement they released Tuesday. While earlier studies showed the loss of Vermont Yankee could affect the grid, the most recent study conducted in 2012 found that wasn't the case, and the power grid could operate reliably without the facility, according to the statement.

"This was due to new system conditions including the development of some new resources ... completion of some previously planned transmission upgrades; and the demand-reducing effects of energy-efficient measures," company officials said in the statement.

Based on the sources providing electricity to the New England power grid, ISO New England determined nuclear fuel accounted for 31 percent of the energy produced in the region in 2012, according to its regional profile. Natural gas made up 52 percent of the electricity generated in the region, while renewable fuel made up 7 percent. Hydropower produced 6 percent of the region's energy, coal accounted for 3 percent, pumped storage made up 1 percent, and oil provided for less than 1 percent, according to the profile.

One way companies producing electricity for the power grid make their money is through contracts with public utility firms. A public utility will agree to pay the company for a certain amount of power that source produces.

Dorothy Schnure, spokeswoman for Green Mountain Power, said since the company's contract ended with Vermont Yankee, it pays Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Connecticut for electricity equal to 4 percent of the energy Green Mountain provides its customers. It also pays Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire for 3 percent of the energy used by its customers, she said.

"The financial transactions utilities have with generators is where the money flows," she said. Once a transaction is made, the amount of electricity purchased is siphoned off from the power grid.

To make sure power plants and other producers aren't making less energy than what utilities are paying for, both ISO New England and the producer keeps track how much energy that source is producing, said Christopher Recchia, commissioner for the Vermont Department of Public Service.

Entergy officials said one of the factors influencing their decision to close Vermont Yankee was the decreasing price of natural gas.

Richard A. Watts, director of the Center for Research on Vermont at the University of Vermont, said Wednesday the cheapest energy gets picked up first in the wholesale energy market, and nowadays, that isn't nuclear energy, which is expensive to produce.

Add to that that many of the nuclear power plants are old, and nuclear power has faced grassroots opposition for many years, he said. The result is an uncertain future for the energy source, he said.

As for natural gas prices, or any fossil fuel for that matter, Recchia said he doesn't think the price is being accurately represented by the market price.

"First of all, there are a lot of subsidies nationally for the oil and gas industries," he said.

In addition, he doesn't believe the full cost of fracking is being properly reflected in the natural gas prices, he said.

Fracking involves shattering underground rock formations to unlock oil and natural gas trapped inside them. It's done by injecting a large volume of water mixed with sand and chemicals into the ground at high pressure. The practice has led to a natural gas boom in recent years, and generated controversy over concern it could contaminate drinking water supplies.

Nationally, natural gas prices are likely to stay low for the "foreseeable future," which is going to make it hard for not only nuclear energy to compete, but other energy sources, Recchia said.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

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