Vistra Corp. on Sept. 29 announced that it has entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with a large, investment-grade company under which Vistra has agreed to supply to the customer with 1,200 megawatts of power from the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Texas.
Vistra anticipates power delivery to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027 and ramp to full capacity by 2032, it said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
There are options to extend the PPA for up to an additional 20 years.
Vistra does not disclose the name of the investment-grade company in the filing.
Vistra in 2024 announced that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had approved its request to extend the operation of Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant through 2053, an additional 20 years beyond its original licenses.
Vistra Announces Plans to Build New Gas-Fueled Dispatchable Power Units in Permian Basin
Vistra on Sept. 29 also announced that it is moving forward with the next phase of its capital plan to support grid reliability in Texas.
In 2024, the company identified more than $1 billion worth of potential capital additions in generation capacity within the Texas ERCOT market by 2028 if market conditions were supportive.
Now, based on customer demand and to meet West Texas' growing power needs, particularly the state's expanding oil and natural gas industries, Vistra has reached a final investment decision on a key element of this plan and confirmed it will build two new advanced natural gas power units, together totaling 860 megawatts, on-site at its Permian Basin Power Plant. This expansion more than triples the site's current capacity from 325 MW to 1,185 MW.
Between 2020 and 2023, the company added approximately 1,000 MW of new generation capacity in Texas by increasing the generation output of its gas fleet and bringing new projects at Brightside, Emerald Grove, and DeCordova into commercial operation.
In 2024, the company unveiled new opportunities, focusing on solutions that could add up to 2,000 MW of new generation capacity to the grid by 2028.
In addition to the new Permian Basin units, Vistra said it has made significant progress on other projects announced since summer 2024, including:
- Completed – upgrades of existing gas plants: Over the past year, Vistra has invested in technologies and upgrades that added more than 400 MW of generation capacity across its existing Texas gas-fueled power plant fleet. The company is working on additional projects over the next year and expects that when finished, all the upgrades will have added a total of 500 MW of additional capacity.
- Nearing Completion – new solar facility: Construction is nearly complete on the 200-MW Oak Hill solar project, located atop the site of the retired and reclaimed Oak Hill lignite mine. Commercial operations of this new facility are expected to commence in the fourth quarter of 2025.
- On-Track – repowering a retiring coal plant: The company will repower the Coleto Creek Power Plant that was scheduled for retirement in 2027. By investing in plant upgrades and supporting pipeline expansion, the company will create a dispatchable gas plant on the property and repurpose the considerable existing infrastructure. This will restore approximately 630 MW of generation to the grid, and the new gas-fueled capacity "can serve Texans for decades to come, while retaining the important economic and tax benefits to the Goliad area," it said.
Upon completing these projects, Vistra will have invested nearly $2 billion to add approximately 3,100 MW of new generation capacity in Texas since 2020.
