The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) on Oct. 5 announced a conditional loan commitment of up to $4.2 billion to finance nuclear uprates and modernization across Vistra’s nuclear fleet in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
"The investment advances President Trump’s Executive Order Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base, and marks another major step in restoring American nuclear leadership," DOE said.
“President Trump promised to unleash an American nuclear renaissance, and the Energy Department is delivering,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “By getting more power out of the nuclear plants we already have, we can deliver more affordable, reliable, around the-clock energy for American families and businesses.”
DOE said the projects will preserve nearly 4 gigawatts of reliable baseload power and add 433 megawatts (MW) of new nuclear capacity, helping meet growing electricity demand in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and across the PJM Interconnection region.
Vistra’s planned investments at Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania and Davis-Besse and Perry in Ohio will produce more electricity from existing nuclear plants without requiring new transmission corridors or equivalent new generation resources, while supporting the plants’ operation for an additional 20 years beyond their existing licenses, DOE noted.
EDF’s conditional loan commitment also includes an option to finance potential future uprates at Vistra’s Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Texas.
While this conditional commitment indicates DOE's intent to provide a loan, Vistra must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the Department enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan, DOE said.
