OPEC+ likely to leave December output targets unchanged, sources say
No final decision has been made ahead of a seven-member meeting, while Gulf producers remain below quotas following disruptions from the Iran war.
Constellation gets $5 billion loan commitment for nuclear upgrades
The financing remains subject to finalization, with Google, Amazon and Meta already buying much of the additional electricity from the planned upgrades.
The Trump administration has committed $5 billion in loans to Constellation Energy for capacity increases at eight nuclear power plants. The financing has not been finalized. Constellation plans to upgrade 11 existing reactors, with the expansion adding 1.1 gigawatts of generating capacity.
Constellation said it had previously committed more than $7 billion to projects adding 1,080 megawatts to supply Google, Amazon and Meta. The company said the government financing could reduce borrowing costs for those projects. Most or all of the extra electricity from seven of the eight facilities already has buyers among those technology companies.
The plants include Illinois sites Braidwood, Byron, Clinton, Dresden, LaSalle and Quad Cities, as well as Maryland's Calvert Cliffs and Pennsylvania's Limerick. Google has agreed to buy additional output from Limerick and four Illinois plants. Amazon is purchasing power from Calvert Cliffs, while Meta is effectively buying the entire output of Clinton.
The Department of Energy presented the financing as support for affordable and reliable electricity for U.S. households and businesses. Constellation did not specify whether the upgrades would hold electricity rates steady or reduce them, and it declined to confirm the government's affordability claim.