Amazon Joins Other Hyperscalers in Saving Existing Nuclear

Current conditions: Thick fog in South Carolina caused a 50-car pileup on Interstate-95 in which dozens were injured • Tropical Storm Choi-wan was upgraded to “severe” status as the cyclone tracks north of the Northern Mariana Islands toward Japan’s remote Ogasawara archipelago • In the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Hanna is moving northeast toward the Azores, but may weaken before hitting the Portuguese islands.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Yet another hyperscaler invests in large existing nuclear

Almost exactly two years ago, nuclear energy had its Big Tech glow-up. Amazon took an equity stake in X-energy, a developer of helium-cooled small modular reactors. Google invested in Kairos Power, another fourth-generation SMR designer that uses molten salt as a coolant. Microsoft, meanwhile, agreed to pay $16 billion to restart the functioning reactor at Constellation Energy’s Crane Clean Energy Center, formerly known as Three Mile Island. With electricity demand now surging, however, hyperscalers are increasingly following the more conservative Microsoft playbook. Google, as I previously told you, backed plans to bring Iowa’s lone nuclear plant, NextEra Energy’s Duane Arnold station, online again. Facebook-owner Meta — in addition to investments in two next-generation reactor companies, Oklo and TerraPower — inked a deal to buy nuclear electricity from two of utility Vistra’s plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania for the next 20 years.

Now Amazon is securing itself a chunk of the nation’s existing nuclear fleet. This week, the retail and web-hosting giant signed its own 20-year deal to buy power from Constellation’s Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center in Maryland, committing more than $3 billion in investments to upgrade the two-reactor facility that will allow the operators to squeeze out another 190 megawatts of capacity on top of the existing 1.8 gigawatts. “This agreement demonstrates how private investment can strengthen critical energy infrastructure,” Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez said in a statement. “Amazon’s commitment supports the long-term operation of Calvert Cliffs for generations to come.”

2. Fervo starts selling power from Cape Station ahead of schedule

Fervo Energy announced Thursday morning that it had started selling power from its flagship debut power plant ahead of schedule this week, marking the completion of the world’s first enhanced geothermal generating station just 23 months after construction began. Six days after synchronizing to the grid, Cape Station brought in its first revenue, fulfilling its power purchase agreement with Shell Energy North America with electricity from its first 33-megawatt unit of what will ultimately be a 500-megawatt facility. The commercial milestone came one day before Fervo’s contract required it to sell its first electrons. “Reaching commercial operations at Cape Station is both a huge milestone for Fervo and a turning point for the entire energy industry,” Fervo CEO Tim Latimer said in a statement. “No team has ever built a project like this anywhere in the world, and we did it ahead of schedule. We are excited to prove that Fervo Energy can bring a new track record of execution to the power sector, an industry where project delays are often the norm.” Fervo’s stock price, a hot commodity when it hit the Nasdaq this spring, closed nearly 7% higher on Thursday.

Other companies want to replicate that stock market success. As I exclusively reported yesterday, Controlled Thermal Resources, a geothermal power and critical mineral startup developing a project on the shores of California’s Salton Sea, converted debt from the automaker Stellantis to equity ahead of a planned IPO via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

3. A long-duration storage startup is building a giant battery in Kansas

Getting steamy in South Dakota. Antora

In May, the long-duration storage startup Antora brought one of the world’s largest batteries online at a South Dakota ethanol plant, converting cheap surplus wind power from the grid into heat that stays insulated inside solid carbon blocks at temperatures exceeding 3,632 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2,000 degrees Celsius, and can be released to pump out as much as 5 gigawatt-hours of electricity. Now, with the $550 million I told you in July that it had raised to fund its expansion, the company is going even bigger. On Thursday, Antora announced plans for a nearly 6 gigawatt-hour project at Pratt Energy’s biorefinery in Pratt, Kansas. “Once complete, this project will be one of the largest battery storage systems in the world, delivering 24/7 energy that makes Pratt Energy’s operations more competitive,” Andrew Ponec, Antora’s co-founder and chief executive, wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “And I’m especially proud of the partnerships we’ve built with the Pratt community on local hiring, internships, and scholarships.”

With demand for long-duration storage that doesn’t lose charge like lithium-ion batteries skyrocketing, there are clear signs the market is primed to rip. On Thursday, the iron-sodium battery startup Inlyte Energy announced its first commercial project, supplying power to Berkshire East Mountain Resort’s snow-making machines during ski seasons without enough fresh powder. The 80-megawatt-hour project, one of two long-duration storage projects backed by a state program in Massachusetts, is expected to come online in 2028. “The Berkshire East project shows what becomes possible when Inlyte’s iron-sodium battery does more than one job,” Ben Kaun, Inlyte’s chief commercial officer, said in a press release. “Its efficient, long-duration capability enables clean power during demanding snowmaking peaks, makes better use of renewable electricity, and keeps a critical community resource operating when the grid goes down.” Long-duration storage is one area where the U.S. hopes to gain an edge. With scaled-up versions of electric vehicle batteries now occupying the fastest-growing niche in the global power market, China commands 95% of the sector, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

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4. Trump threatens Europe with a diesel export ban

As I told you yesterday, President Donald Trump is seesawing over whether to temporarily ban U.S. exports of diesel, holding crisis talks as he weighs the merits of a brief and uncertain price reprieve for Americans at the cost of a catastrophic price shock in Europe. On Thursday, Reuters reported that the White House is pressing the European Union to release 120 million barrels of diesel. The administration told German and French officials to draw down emergency diesel inventories to help ease global fuel prices or face a U.S. export ban.

5. The Energy Department has ‘quietly ghosted’ billions in grants

Exactly a year ago, the Department of Energy canceled hundreds of grants totaling more than $8 billion, a move the agency later admitted in court was “based solely” on whether the project was located in a state that voted for Kamala Harris in 2024. Now over 60% of those projects remain stuck in administrative limbo, nearly 70% of retained awards have received negligible funding in the past six months, and billions in funding to 1,700 newly identified projects remain “quietly ghosted” without any communications, according to an analysis published this morning by the alumni network of former Energy Department staffers and the watchdog group Lawyers for Good Government. “The U.S. Department of Energy has not been acting in good faith when it comes to grantees working on climate-based solutions,” Jillian Blanchard, the senior vice president of climate change and environmental justice at Lawyers for Good Government, said in a statement.

The Energy Department isn’t the only agency attracting fresh scrutiny for terminating grants for clean energy in the early days of the current Trump administration. Last month, federal district court judges in Rhode Island and the District of Columbia ruled within days of each other that the Environmental Protection Agency had illegally terminated funding promised to low-income Americans to help finance rooftop solar panels from the Biden-era Solar for All program. Now that the $7 billion program is poised to begin flowing again, recipients who were made to wait are suing the Trump administration for damages over the pause. The termination “was devastating on so many levels,” Kerry O’Neill, chief executive of program grantee Inclusive Prosperity Capital, told Utility Dive. Her organization, tasked with using the money to get panels to eligible Americans, had to cut back on staffing. Now it’s “going back and building these teams back up,” she told the trade publication. “We had fully approved work plans, very detailed plans. Our products are designed, sitting, ready to go. It would obviously take time to pull our coalition back together and get on everybody’s work queue. But this is a group that’s super passionate.” The EPA said it was reviewing the suit.

THE KICKER

The trillion-dollar question in Washington right now is whether the Senate will actually vote to pass the bipartisan permitting reform bill unveiled yesterday. (Read my colleagues’ super-comprehensive breakdown of the legislation here.) But Wednesday showed that the Senate is perfectly capable of finding consensus when the chamber passed the Wildfire Emissions Prevention Act with unanimous approval. The bill would make it easier for states to deal with wildfire emissions, promote efficient use of air quality resources, and ensure that states won’t face federal penalties for taking action to curb blazes. “Utah has faced a devastating fire season, and we know that preventing catastrophic wildfires starts with giving land managers the tools to reduce hazardous fuels before they burn,” Senator John Curtis, a Republican from Utah, said in a statement. “Prescribed fire works, and states should not be penalized for responsibly using it to protect communities, forests, and air quality.”