The Trump administration wants to add 5 gigawatts of carbon-free nuclear power capacity by 2029 without deploying a single new reactor. An announcement this week by the United States’ biggest nuclear power plant operator brings that lofty goal a bit closer to reality.

On Tuesday, Constellation Energy said it would partner with Google to add 890 megawatts of generating capacity at 11 existing nuclear plants across the PJM Interconnection, the country’s biggest and most capacity-constrained electricity market. The 20-year deal is similar to a smaller deal Constellation and Meta announced last year to add 30 MW at another one of its plants and a third agreement between Georgia Power and Google to add 96 MW at two nuclear power stations in the Peach State.

All three initiatives involve power uprates, wherein power plant owners upgrade turbines, steam generators, digital control systems, and other nonnuclear infrastructure to boost energy output faster and at a fraction of the cost of building a new reactor from the ground up.

Constellation expects to finish its first Google-backed uprate by 2028 and complete the entire batch in the early 2030s, Constellation spokesperson Paul Adams told Canary Media. One project will add 348 MW of generating capacity to Constellation’s 2,317-MW Limerick nuclear plant near Philadelphia, while the 2,327-MW Salem plant in southern New Jersey will get a 97-MW boost, Adams said.

“ Each plant is different, so the scale of the projects and what is being done varies plant to plant,” Adams said.

Source link