Vistra signss deal to supply nuclear energy from Texas plant

Vistra Corp announced on Monday that it had secured a long term deal with an unnamed buyer to supply electricity from its Comanche Peak Nuclear Plant.

In a regulatory filing, the utility stated that it had signed a deal for a 20-year supply of 1,200 megawatts of electricity from its nuclear plant in Somervell County in Texas to an unnamed investment-grade purchaser.

Vistra anticipates that power deliveries will begin in the fourth quarter 2027 and reach full capacity by 2032.

Andrew Weisel, analyst at Scotiabank, said: "This deal puts Vistra on par with other independent power producers in the race for megawatts secured under long-term contracts."

However, Weisel stated that some investors were not satisfied with the contract because it only covers 50% of Comanche Peak's plant capacity. Also, the fact that Vistra did not name the customer could suggest the data center is not one.

In the afternoon, shares of the company dropped by nearly 2%.

The shares of the utility had increased slightly earlier in the day after it announced that two new natural-gas units would be built at its Permian basin power plant in West Texas.

It said that the addition of two units to the Permian basin power plant will bring the current site capacity up to 1,185MW.

Vistra announced last year that it would increase the natural gas-fueled electricity capacity in Texas to 2,000MW by 2028. This would be enough to power one million homes.

The U.S. is expecting to see record-breaking power consumption in the coming years, driven by data centers that are dedicated to AI, cryptocurrency and increased energy use for heating, transportation and business. (Reporting and editing by Pranav Mathur, Bengaluru. Shilpa Majumdar, Sahal Muhammed, Anil D'Silva)

(source: Reuters)