Energy Department offers Vistra up to $4.2 billion conditional loan for nuclear upgrades

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 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. Vistra must meet conditions before the loan is funded.

The commitment is not yet a final loan. According to DOE, Vistra must satisfy certain technical, legal, environmental and financial conditions before the department enters into definitive financing documents and funds the loan.

DOE said the projects will preserve nearly 4 gigawatts (GW) of baseload power and add 433 megawatts (MW) of new nuclear capacity. The department said the 4 GW is enough to power more than 3 million homes. DOE said the projects will help meet growing electricity demand in Pennsylvania, Ohio and across the 13-state PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (PJM) region.

The investments cover Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania and Davis-Besse and Perry in Ohio. DOE said they will produce more electricity from existing nuclear plants without requiring new transmission corridors. The department said they will also support the plants' operation for an additional 20 years beyond their existing licenses.

"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," U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said.

DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF) made the commitment. It includes an option to finance potential future uprates at Vistra's Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Texas.

The department said the investments will support approximately 3,000 project-related jobs in engineering, construction and planned outage work. DOE said the investment advances President Trump's Executive Order Reinvigorating the Nuclear Industrial Base.