Did Exelon Corporation Just Quietly Admit That Nuclear Power Is Dead?, Motley Fool, By Maxx Chatsko | April 21, 2015 | “………..The fast-falling costs of renewable energy and sudden global abundance of natural gas have turned the tables on nuclear power generators, which suffer from relatively high maintenance costs and, for newer plants, absurdly high upfront construction costs.
Therefore, it should also not come as a surprise that Exelon has been carefully hedging against its existing nuclear power plants by investing in lower-cost generation. For instance, the company recently handed General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) over $500 million for four next-generation natural gas turbines, which will combine to generate over 2,000 MW of electricity for the Texas grid. Is this a quiet admission that traditional nuclear power is dead?……….
Although the details surrounding the natural gas fired turbines look favorable for investors, some simple number-crunching certainly favors the thesis that traditional nuclear power is dead, even if Exelon hasn’t explicitly mentioned the possibility (or considered it internally). While the company won’t be ditching its existing nuclear facilities anytime soon, investors surely shouldn’t expect it to build any new nuclear capacity, either………
Or think about it another way: Exelon’s investment will increase its 2013 natural gas capacity by 25% and represent more capacity than the company’s total wind and solar assets. Even if the company paid twice as much for future next-generation natural gas turbines, or $1 billion for 1,000 MW of capacity, it could replace its entire 19,000 MW nuclear fleet for just $19 billion. That’s 126% of the price tag Southern Co is shelling out for just 2,500 MW of new nuclear capacity!
If that doesn’t communicate the fact that new construction of traditional nuclear power is a thing of the past, then perhaps nothing will…….
The fact that Exelon is going all-in on cheaper and more profitable power generation is terrific news for investors, and the wider trend sweeping the power industry will be great news for General Electric investors, too. ………http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/04/21/did-exelon-corporation-just-quietly-admit-that-nuc.aspx
