New Jersey would seek bids to build small nuclear reactors

The Board of Public Utilities would seek competitive bids and award selected projects payments based on electricity produced. Reactors could have no more than 20 megawatts of generating capacity and would need a federal nuclear license. Construction must begin after the law takes effect. Projects must connect to a New Jersey utility or local government power system, or supply only New Jersey facilities. Awards would stay within the board’s program budget. The board would develop the program within one year after the law takes effect. Bidding would begin within two years and repeat at least every 18 months.

The board could pay selected reactors from the Global Warming Solutions Fund, the state’s climate fund. Selected owners or operators would pay an annual fee capped at the board’s reasonable program expenses. A reactor could not receive both an incentive and an Economic Development Authority climate-fund grant in the same year. A reactor could not receive both an incentive and a zero-emission certificate, a state clean-power credit, for the same electricity. Owners could not separately sell or transfer the supported electricity’s environmental benefits except through the zero-emission certificate program. The ban on duplicate rewards for the same electricity would still apply.