Amazon signs 20-year deal to expand Maryland’s only nuclear plant
Amazon has agreed to buy power from Constellation's Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant for 20 years. The companies say the deal will pay for about 190 megawatts of new capacity, due between 2030 and 2032.
Amazon has signed a 20-year agreement to buy electricity from the Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center, the only nuclear plant in Maryland. The plant is owned by Constellation Energy and can produce 1,790 megawatts (MW). The agreement covers 690 MW.
The companies say the deal will support more than $3 billion of infrastructure improvements in Maryland. That work is expected to add about 190 MW of new generating capacity, coming online between 2030 and 2032. Constellation says the steady income also lets it seek a licence to run the plant for another 20 years, and supports developing new clean energy plants at the same site.
The power will not run on a private line to Amazon. Constellation says all of the plant’s electricity will keep flowing into PJM, the regional grid that serves 13 states and the District of Columbia. Amazon has also signed a separate agreement for Constellation to supply its operations across that region. The companies say Calvert Cliffs produces about 80% of Maryland’s clean energy, enough for roughly 1.3 million homes.
Why it matters
A large AI company is paying to keep a nuclear plant running and to make it bigger. That brings private money into round-the-clock power and adds supply to the grid. It is a grid deal, though, not the on-site power this site argues data centers will eventually make for themselves.
Reality check
The new 190 MW is four to six years away, and the dollar and capacity figures are the companies' own. Most of the power in the deal comes from a plant that is already running, so little of it is new supply. The article does not say which approvals the upgrade and the licence extension still need.
Source Utility Dive