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US DOE Renews Emergency Order to Keep Pennsylvania Power Plant Units Online

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The US Department of Energy has renewed an emergency order requiring a fossil fuel-fired Pennsylvania power plant to remain operational to address grid reliability issues in the Mid-Atlantic region, it said on Friday.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright ordered PJM Interconnection, in coordination with Constellation Energy (CEG), to keep Units 3 and 4 of the Eddystone Generating Station available beyond their planned retirements and to use economic dispatch to limit consumer costs, the department said in a statement.

The units were initially scheduled to shut on May 31, 2025. Wright first issued an emergency order on May 30 last year to keep the units online past their planned retirement, with subsequent orders issued later in 2025 and 2026.

"Eddystone Units 3 and 4, each with a capacity of 380 MW, were installed between 1967 and 1970. These subcritical steam boiler-turbine generator units can operate on either natural gas or oil, providing flexibility based on market conditions," according to Constellation Energy's website.

The new directive is effective from Aug. 23 through Nov. 20.

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