Owners of fossil fuel-fired power plants that supply electricity to New York and two trade associations filed an action in the federal district court for the Southern District of New York challenging the New York Public Service Commission’s (PSC’s) plan to provide “Zero Emissions Credits” to four nuclear power plants. The Zero Emission Credit (ZEC) program was established as part of the PSC’s proceeding to establish a Clean Energy Standard to achieve the statewide goal of obtaining 50% of New York’s electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The plaintiffs alleged that the ZEC program, though “[o]stensibly” intended to avoid the loss of carbon-free nuclear generation before new renewable power sources could be developed, would in fact “simply serve[] to keep the uneconomic capacity and energy from [the four nuclear plants] in the … wholesale markets, notwithstanding the fact that wholesale market price signals are indicating that these units should be retired.” The plaintiffs alleged that the ZEC program was field preempted because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has exclusive jurisdiction over wholesale electricity sales. The plaintiffs also contended that the ZEC program was barred by conflict preemption and invalid under the dormant Commerce Clause.

Challenge to component of New York Clean Energy Standard that provided payments to certain nuclear facilities providing "zero-emission" power.

Coalition for Competitive Electricity v. Zibelman

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Power Plant Owners Challenged New York “Zero Emission Credits” for Nuclear Plants

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Power Plant Owners Challenged New York “Zero Emission Credits” for Nuclear Plants

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Finance