The U.S. Department of Energy has announced a $5 billion loan commitment to Constellation Energy. The funds are intended to support the expansion of nuclear power capacity by 1.1 gigawatts across eight existing power plants.
Constellation Energy plans to upgrade 11 reactors at these sites, which include six facilities in Illinois, one in Maryland, and one in Pennsylvania. The company has already committed over $7 billion of its own capital to these projects.
The additional energy generated from seven of these plants is largely secured by Google, Meta, and Amazon. These hyperscalers are seeking to power their AI data centers and have committed tens of billions of dollars to secure energy capacity.
The loan aims to lower financing costs for the reactor upgrades. While the Department of Energy stated the initiative supports affordable power, Constellation Energy has not confirmed that the projects will lead to lower electricity rates for residential customers.
