NRG gives up EWG status for shut Norwalk Harbor plant

November 27, 2013 Barry Cassell Generation

The Norwalk Power LLC unit of NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) filed a brief notice on Nov. 27 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that it no longer seeks to maintain its exempt wholesale generator (EWG) status because it has shut its 340-MW (net) power plant.

“Norwalk Power filed an application for EWG status in the above-referenced docket on December 7, 1999,” the notice said. “The Commission granted Norwalk Power EWG status on January 21, 2000. Norwalk Power deactivated its electric generating facility on June 1, 2013 and has no current plans to resume operations at the facility. Accordingly, Norwalk Power submits this notice that it no longer seeks to maintain its EWG status.”

Lee Davis, the President of NRG Energy’s East Region, in Sept. 10 testimony filed at FERC blamed the “poor design” of the ISO New England Forward Capacity Market for NRG’s decision to deactivate the Norwalk Harbor station. This oil-fired facility is the same type of resource that ISO-NE said it needs to reliably operate the system during periods of natural gas constraints, he noted at the time.

About Barry Cassell 20414 Articles

Barry Cassell is Chief Analyst for GenerationHub covering coal and emission controls issues, projects and policy. He has covered the coal and power generation industry for more than 24 years, beginning in November 2011 at GenerationHub and prior to that as editor of SNL Energy’s Coal Report. He was formerly with Coal Outlook for 15 years as the publication’s editor and contributing writer, and prior to that he was editor of Coal & Synfuels Technology and associate editor of The Energy Report. He has a bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan University.