[rhodozelia]

"black start" of a power plant, the ability for it to start the generator rotation, provide current to the field, and energize a power line is something that costs more to provide when building a plant. Utilities that have old school focus on reliability will generally have that capability. Private companies who just generate power to make money don't have any incentive to pay for that function. If the grid is dead there is nobody to use that power.

Another cool thing that utility power plants can do is feed themselves - keep the pumps running, lights on, heaters running, coffee hot, etc in the power plant using the power from the generator in the plant even if it is not connected to the transmission system. Most privately owned power plants forego this ability along with black start and will have a diesel generator instead.