On February 28, 2025, FERC granted a request by Holtec Palisades, LLC (“Holtec”) for waiver of certain provisions of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (“MISO”) Open Access Transmission, Energy and Operating Reserve Markets Tariff (“Tariff”) to prevent the termination of interconnection service to the Palisades Nuclear Plant (“Palisades”). Absent the requested waiver, Palisades’ interconnection service in MISO was set to terminate on May 20, 2025, which would have delayed its return to commercial operations as Palisades progresses through the recommissioning process. According to Holtec’s waiver request, Palisades is set to become the first suspended nuclear plant to return to active service in the United States.
Holtec explained in its waiver request that Palisades entered suspended status under the MISO Tariff in May 2022, notified the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in April 2024 that it would seek to recommission the facility, and has contractual obligations to return to service by March 1, 2027, under long-term firm power purchase agreements Palisades executed with Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, Inc., and Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. However, because Palisades is not scheduled to return to service until at least October 2025, MISO Tariff sections 38.2.7.k and 38.2.7.n present a barrier for Palisades to maintain its current Generator Interconnection Agreement (“GIA”) with Michigan Electric Transmission Company, LLC. An amended GIA was filed with FERC in February 2025 and remains pending. Holtec therefore requested waiver of sections 38.2.7.k and 38.2.7.n of the MISO Tariff to allow a 22-month extension to the 36 cumulative months within a five-year suspension period, from May 20, 2025, to March 1, 2027, so that Palisades’ suspension may continue without termination of Palisades’ interconnection service.
In its February 28, 2025, order, FERC found that Holtec’s waiver request satisfied all four requirements of FERC’s traditional four-part test for waiver requests and thus granted Holtec’s requested waiver. First, FERC found that Holtec acted in good faith by seeking waiver to address timing discrepancies between the MISO Tariff and regulatory processes needed to complete Palisades’ return to commercial operation. Second, FERC concluded that the waiver request is limited in scope because it seeks a one-time waiver to allow a 22-month extension to the maximum suspension period under the MISO Tariff. Third, FERC determined that the waiver request addresses a concrete problem because, absent the requested waiver, Palisades’ interconnection rights would terminate, which would jeopardize its recommissioning timeline. Finally, FERC found that the waiver will not have undesirable consequences, as MISO confirmed that the waiver will not create any reliability concerns or cause any interconnection queue management issues.
FERC’s order granting the waiver request, issued in Docket No. ER25-1083-000, is available here.