The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a conditional loan commitment of up to USD4.2bn to Vistra Corp. to support nuclear uprates and modernisation projects across its nuclear fleet in Pennsylvania and Ohio, United States (US DOE press release, 05/10/2026). According to the Department, the projects will preserve nearly 4 GW of reliable baseload generation while adding 433 MW of new nuclear capacity, helping address rising electricity demand in Pennsylvania, Ohio and the wider PJM region.
“Vistra’s planned investments at Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania and Davis-Besse and Perry in Ohio will produce more electricity from existing nuclear plants without requiring new transmission corridors or equivalent new generation resources, while supporting the plants’ operation for an additional 20 years beyond their existing licenses”, said the Department. The conditional loan commitment also includes an option to finance potential future uprates at Vistra’s Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant in Texas.
In January 2026, Vistra announced that it was pursuing a total of 433 MW of uprates at its Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear plants in Ohio and its Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania, as part of a 2.6 GW power purchase agreement with Meta (Utility Dive, 06/10/2026).
The preservation of existing nuclear capacity is becoming increasingly widespread as the US seeks to meet rapidly rising electricity demand from data centres, which are expected to represent a significant portion of overall power consumption in the near term. Overall, electricity consumption has risen by 2%/year since 2023, following a 2% decline in 2023 and annual growth of 2% between 2020 and 2022, according to our data (Enerdata Global Energy Research).
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