Expansion of Point Beach nuclear plant questioned

From an article by Tom Content in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Groups say state has enough electricity

Wisconsin doesn't need expanded power output from the Point Beach nuclear plant because the state has more than enough electricity to meet its needs, two advocacy groups said in a filing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

NextEra Energy Resources Inc. has proposed expanding the total power output from the two-reactor plant by 17%. The plant supplies electricity to Milwaukee utility We Energies.

In a filing with the NRC, the Wisconsin Citizens' Utility Board and Clean Wisconsin raise questions about the plan, saying the NRC is relying on outdated information about the plant and its importance to the reliability of Wisconsin's power grid.

The NRC said the plant's output is needed to meet demand for power that's growing by 2% a year, citing a 2008 Wisconsin report. But the recession cut demand for electricity, and the state said the growth rate in demand has slowed to 1% a year, the groups say.

The groups also say the issue is "outdated and inaccurate" in contending that the project, known as an uprate, is needed in light of a weak transmission grid that has led Wisconsin to import power from Illinois.

But that is no longer the case, following billions of dollars of investment by American Transmission Co. in the eastern Wisconsin power grid and construction of new power plants, the consumer and environmental group said.

"The proposed . . . [updgrade] would actually result in needing to build more transmission in Wisconsin to enable (Point Beach) to export the uprate power out of state," the groups say.

American Transmission Co. has proposed a $173 million upgrade of the transmission line network in the Manitowoc County area to enable the full output of the nuclear plant to reach the rest of the power grid.

In light of the state's excess power supply, the PSC last year opened an inquiry into whether power plants should be mothballed or idled. Utilities say demand for power is expected to ramp back up as the economy improves.