Amazon's 20-year deal pays for a 190 MW uprate and life extension at Calvert Cliffs
Victoria Shinder2 min readAmazon has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation tied to the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Maryland, World Nuclear News reported on 1 October.
The terms. The agreement covers 690 MW of power, and the two companies have also signed a related retail supply agreement to serve Amazon's operations in the 13-state PJM grid. Constellation says the deal allows $3 billion of investment, including an uprate that will add 190 MW to the plant's existing 1,790 MW between 2030 and 2032.
What it pays for beyond the uprate. According to Constellation, Amazon's long-term commitment also gives it the revenue certainty to relicense the plant for another 20 years. Calvert Cliffs' two pressurised water reactors were connected to the grid in 1975 and 1976 and are licensed until 2034 and 2036; without a second renewal they would shut then. The company says the deal also supports progress towards new clean generation at the site, where last year it said it would explore about 2,000 MW of new next-generation nuclear, effectively doubling the site's output.
Why the plant matters. Calvert Cliffs is Maryland's only nuclear plant. It produces about 40% of the state's total power generation and 80% of its clean generation, according to the report.
The market around it. The deal is the latest in a series of power purchase agreements and investments in nuclear by technology companies and other large buyers that want round-the-clock low-carbon power for data centres. Amazon was among the companies that signed a pledge last year supporting at least a tripling of global nuclear capacity by 2050. Constellation operates the largest nuclear fleet in the United States.
What it means
The structure is the news. Rather than buying output from a plant that would run anyway, the buyer's long-term contract is presented as the thing that makes an uprate and a second licence renewal financeable. For PJM, where capacity is tight and data-centre demand is rising, extending existing reactors and adding megawatts at existing sites is the fastest new firm supply on offer, and contracts like this one decide which plants get it.