Vistra gets $4.2B DOE loan for planned uprates in Ohio, Pennsylvania

Vistra is set to receive an approximately $4.2 billion loan from the Department of Energy to upgrade and uprate its fleet of nuclear reactors in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the DOE announced Monday.

This work will add 433 MW of new nuclear capacity to help meet electricity demand in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and the 13-state PJM region, according to the DOE. It also will preserve 4 GW of existing baseload power and support roughly 3,000 engineering, construction, and planned outage jobs and thousands of other permanent jobs.

"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 Secretary Chris Wright said.

Additional details: The funding will go to Vistra's three nuclear power plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio: Beaver Valley in Shippingport, Pa.; Davis-Besse in Oak Harbor, Ohio; and Perry in Perry, Ohio. The 1,872-MWe Beaver Valley features two pressurized water reactors, while Davis-Besse's single unit is a 908-MWe PWR and Perry's single unit is a 1,268-MWe boiling water reactor.

According to the DOE, the planned investments at the three facilities will produce more electricity without requiring new transmission corridors or equivalent new generation resources and will support operations for an additional 20 years beyond the plants' existing licenses. Beaver Valley-1 and -2 are licensed through 2036 and 2047, respectively. Davis-Besse is licensed through 2037. Perry is licensed to operate through 2046. However, Vistra notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in January of its intention to submit subsequent license renewal applications for all three sites in the coming years.

The loans are being offered by the DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF), the office formerly known as the Loan Programs Office that has shown significant interest in investing in new nuclear power generation projects.

The conditional loan commitment requires Vistra to satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental, and financial conditions before the DOE enters into a definitive agreement and funds the loan. It also includes an option to finance potential future uprates at Vistra's other nuclear power plant, the 2,400-MWe, two-unit Comanche Peak in Glen Rose, Texas.

"President Trump and Secretary Wright have set a clear direction for America's nuclear future, and EDF is financing the projects that advance that mission," said DOE-EDF director Gregory Beard. "These investments will extend the life of existing reactors, increase nuclear generation, and deliver abundant, around-the-clock power to lower costs and power American prosperity for decades to come."

Vistra's plans to uprate the three facilities already have been made public. According to the NRC's list of future uprate applications, Vistra is intending to submit applications for Perry in the third quarter of 2029, Beaver Valley-2 in the third quarter of 2030, Beaver Valley-1 in the third quarter of 2031, and Davis-Besse in the third quarter of 2032. All four are listed as extended power uprates.

One missing detail in the announcement is Meta's role in the uprate work. In January, the tech giant said it would support uprates at Perry, Davis-Besse, and Beaver Valley. At the time, Meta said it would be the largest uprates supported by a corporate customer.