Grid Operator Sounds Alarm Over Power Plant Shutdown That Could Impact Millions

Smoke emerges from a large stack at the coal-fired Brandon Shores Power Plant in Baltimore, Md., on March 9, 2018. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

A large U.S. grid operator warned Wednesday that the pending shutdown of a coal power plant in Maryland may imperil electricity supplies for millions of Americans.

Talen Energy in April told PJM Interconnection, a grid operator in 13 states, earlier this year that it will shut down its 1,280-megawatt plant in Brandon Shores, near Baltimore, in June 2025. In 2020, Talen Energy said that it came to an agreement with the Sierra Club environmentalist to cease “coal-fired operations” by that time at the plant along with two others.

But a PJM spokesman said Wednesday that the shuttering of the Brandon Shores plant would cause a grid imbalance. It noted that upgrades in Maryland aren’t expected to be finished until 2028, three years after the plant is closed down.

“The PJM region and the state of Maryland are facing future reliability challenges as a result of the announced retirement of the Brandon Shores units,” Jeff Shields, a spokesperson for PJM, told Fox News.

He warned that the grid operator’s analyses revealed that the plant’s operational shutdown “would cause severe voltage drop and thermal violations across seven PJM zones, which could lead to a widespread reliability risks in Baltimore and the immediate surrounding areas.”

“Therefore, there is an urgent need to upgrade the transmission system in order to maintain reliability and the flow of power to the 65 million people we serve,” Mr. Shields said. “The chosen transmission solutions include in-service estimates in the 2027-2028 timeframe.”

More than 65 million customers are served by PJM across 369,000 square miles, according to the company.

This week, the company issued a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that “given the size and location of these units, PJM determined that the deactivation of these units will cause severe voltage drop and widespread thermal violations resulting in nearly 600 reliability violations  across seven PJM zones,” including Baltimore.

Due to what it described as potential reliability issues, PJM said it asked Talen to keep Brandon Shores online until the end of 2028. However, Mr. Shields told the outlet that the Talen agreement with the Sierra Club means that prevents that from happening.

Meanwhile, an analyst said Wednesday that it’s not clear if there will be a stopgap measure put in place to deal with potential reliability problems created by the shuttering of the plant.

“There has been a strong push for quite some time to get coal power out of Maryland,” Christopher Summers, the founder of the Maryland Public Policy Institute think tank, told Fox News. “In this accelerated timeline of exiting from coal-fired power plants in the coming 12 to 24 months, I think it’s going to create a major reliability concern for the state.”

He added: “The loss of power poses a real danger to the well-being and livelihoods of Maryland families and businesses. Until these current risks to our grid are fully dealt with, it’s a mistake to close reliable, baseload power plants too soon. That should be a concern to consumers in Maryland and businesses in Maryland that rely on dependable power.”

Talen’s move to shut down the plant may have been, in part, caused by Maryland’s policy that requires a significant statewide cut in carbon emissions by 2031, FERC Commissioner Mark Christie has said in a recent report.

Other Recent Warnings

Earlier this month, FERC and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) watchdog released a statement warning that millions of people in New England may face a higher risk of heat and power problems during the winter months if a plan to shut down a natural gas terminal is enacted.

There might be “serious” problems with “certain local gas distribution systems’ ability to ensure reliability and affordability in the region” without the Everett Marine Terminal, which could be shut down under a new proposal, the two organizations said.

“Although there was evidence that the retirement of Everett would be ‘manageable’ for the electric system, at least in the near-term, given anticipated new resource deployments and transmission development, minimal load growth, limited resource retirements, and increased reliance on non-natural gas generators, the evidence indicates that, should those expectations not materialize as anticipated, ensuring reliability and affordability could become challenging in the face of a significant winter event,” FERC and NERC said in a statement on Nov. 8.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) building in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 16, 2023. Eric Kayne/AP Images for Movement Catalyst

The regulators noted evidence indicating that Everett’s retirement would be “manageable” for the electric system, at least in the near term. But if these expectations did “not materialize as anticipated,” it may become difficult to maintain affordability and reliability in the event of a major winter event, they said.

Constellation, the terminal’s operator, has not yet confirmed whether it will shut down the natural gas terminal next year. In 2020, the firm said that because of an order issued by a grid operator, it doesn’t see a “path to continue” the operation of the power plant