Constellation to restart Three Mile Island plant after power supply deal with Microsoft

Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:CEG) +7.9% pre-market Friday after saying it signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft (MSFT) that will pave the way to restore service to one of the units at its Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania and keep it online for decades.

Under the agreement, Microsoft (MSFT) will purchase energy from the renewed 835 MW reactor as part of its goal to help match the power used by its data centers in PJM with carbon-free energy.

Constellation (CEG) said the deal is its largest-ever power purchase agreement; financial terms were not disclosed, but the company said it plans to fund the project on its own rather than seek state or federal support.

The company said it expects Three Mile Island to return to service in 2028 and will pursue license renewal to extend plant operations to at least 2054.

The Unit 1 reactor sits next to Unit 2, which was shut down after a partial core meltdown in 1979.

“Before it was prematurely shuttered due to poor economics, this plant was among the safest and most reliable nuclear plants on the grid, and we look forward to bringing it back” with a new name, the Crane Clean Energy Center, Constellation (CEG) President and CEO Joe Dominguez said.