Dealing with a projected surge in energy demand throughout the nation, NextEra Power is taking steps to probably restart its shuttered 615-MW Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa as early as 2028, whereas additionally signing a brand new partnership with GE Vernova to develop pure gasoline era initiatives that may very well be paired with renewable power and storage.
In its fourth-quarter earnings report on Jan. 24, the Juno Seaside, Florida–primarily based firm mentioned it filed a request with the Nuclear Regulatory Fee (NRC) to request a licensing change for the Duane Arnold plant, which it shut down in 2020 after a derecho occasion triggered intensive injury to the station’s cooling towers. The hassle marks an “necessary first step in establishing the regulatory pathway to revive the power’s working license and probably restart plant operations as early as the tip of 2028,” it mentioned.
Individually, NextEra introduced a brand new framework settlement with GE Vernova that has the potential to help “a number of gigawatts” of latest gas-fired era initiatives to serve information facilities, manufacturing services, utilities, and different giant prospects. “No person has constructed extra gas-fired era over the past decade than NextEra Power, and no person has offered extra gasoline generators than GE Vernova,” mentioned NextEra Power CEO and president John Ketchum in a name with analysts. “This collaboration brings collectively the nation’s main operator of pure gas-fired era and the world chief in pure gasoline and electrification expertise.”
The prospects issue into NextEra Power’s large deliberate enlargement to double its 64-GW producing fleet by 2027. Thus far, NextEra has been one of many nation’s largest traders in power infrastructure, spending greater than $150 billion over the previous decade on initiatives starting from nuclear upgrades to pure gasoline pipelines and renewables. “Over the subsequent 4 years alone, we plan to take a position roughly $120 billion throughout the nation, which might permit us to develop our mixed fleet to roughly 121 GW,” Ketchum famous.
Adapting to the Altering Energy Panorama
The twin bulletins come as NextEra, one of many nation’s largest energy producers, grapples with surging electrical energy demand that it says have to be met with a mixture of era sources, together with renewables, pure gasoline, and nuclear.
“Our trade’s mandate is to ship new era and capability options on the lowest price doable to ensure that the U.S. to realize the brand new administration’s power dominance agenda,” Ketchum mentioned on Friday. “If we don’t construct new era to maintain up with growing demand for electrical energy, energy costs are going to go up, or, maybe worse, new expertise or manufacturing load received’t be capable of connect with the grid, which might gradual financial development.”
Whereas NextEra owns Florida Mild and Energy (FPL), the biggest electrical utility within the U.S., it additionally owns NextEra Power Sources, a aggressive power enterprise that it says is the “world’s largest generator of renewable power.” The corporate is presently readying for energy demand that might surge 80% over the subsequent 5 years and sixfold in comparison with the final 20 years. “The one shut analogy you would draw is to the final industrial revolution,” Ketchum mentioned.
For now, FPL is specializing in delivering excessive reliability whereas sustaining a few of the lowest buyer payments within the trade. Because it approaches its one centesimal 12 months, FPL has leveraged investments in good grid expertise to keep away from greater than 2.7 million buyer outages in 2024, together with over 800,000 outages throughout Hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton. In 2024, the corporate additionally commissioned over 2.2 GW of latest, cost-effective photo voltaic capability and improved its already best-in-class non-fuel operations and upkeep (O&M) prices per buyer, that are roughly 70% higher than the trade’s nationwide common. Moreover, FPL filed a take a look at 12 months letter in December to start its fee continuing for brand new charges that can take impact in January 2026. Ketchum mentioned the soundness of multi-year fee plans has allowed FPL to deal with effectivity within the enterprise, which is essential to retaining buyer payments as little as doable.
In the meantime, NextEra Power Sources achieved one other document 12 months in 2024, commissioning over 6 GW of latest renewable power and storage capability. The corporate grew its adjusted earnings by greater than 13% in comparison with the prior 12 months and added greater than 12 GW of latest renewables and storage to its backlog, together with 3.3 GW since its final earnings name. Notably, NextEra Power Sources introduced framework agreements in 2024, together with with two Fortune 500 firms and a joint improvement settlement with Entertgy that might result in as much as 15 GW of latest renewable and power storage alternatives.
“Renewables are right here immediately,” mentioned Ketchum. “You possibly can construct a wind mission in 12 months, a storage facility in 15 and, you already know, photo voltaic mission in 18 months. With gas-fired era … the nation is ranging from a standing begin, and we’ve acquired to go discover the websites. We’ve acquired to develop these websites. We’ve acquired to get gasoline to these websites. We acquired to get palms on gasoline generators,” he mentioned. “In case you take all these issues collectively, when is gasoline actually going to have the ability to contribute at scale? We’re taking a look at 2030, and [for] nuclear, later than that. We’d like shovels within the floor immediately as a result of our prospects want energy proper now.”
Nuclear’s Prospects Look Promising
On the nuclear entrance, Ketchum mentioned near-term alternatives lie in restarting current vegetation, reminiscent of Duane Arnold, somewhat than constructing new ones from the bottom up. Duane Arnold stays a key contender, given “a variety of curiosity within the plan” and in nuclear plant recommissioning. In September 2024, Microsoft and Constellation Power dedicated $1.6 billion to restart the Unit 1 reactor of the shuttered Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania by 2028, now often called the Crane Clear Power Middle, whereas efforts to restart the 800-MW Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan are additionally displaying fruition, he famous.
Together with Duane Arnold, “these are actually those that I feel I might confine to the timeframe of being over the subsequent three, 4, 5 years,” he mentioned. Duane Arnold, itself, “stays in superb situation,” he famous. “The one injury that we ever sustained at Duane Arnold was the derecho that took down the cooling tower. However constructing a cooling tower, that’s run of the mill,” he mentioned. “It’s fairly standard development, so not a complete lot of danger there.
Ketchum additionally mentioned that the corporate is in energetic discussions with potential prospects in regards to the Duane Arnold plant however declined to supply a price estimate. “We’re actually not going to place the associated fee estimate on the market that might harm our negotiating place in these discussions,” he mentioned.
The transfer aligns with broader trade efforts to diversify energy era portfolios with nuclear and gasoline as versatile, dependable choices. Earlier this month, Constellation, the nation’s largest nuclear generator, introduced a $16.4 billion deal to accumulate Calpine, a serious gasoline and geothermal energy producer. The merger, anticipated to create a 60-GW aggressive era goliath, is designed to fulfill rising buyer demand for reliable, versatile power in key markets like ERCOT and PJM whereas supporting decarbonization objectives and enhancing market competitiveness.
Final week, South Carolina state utility Santee Cooper got down to discover finishing two partially constructed AP1000 nuclear models on the V.C. Summer season Nuclear Station, which had been deserted in 2017. Citing the pressing want for dependable, carbon-free electrical energy, the utility mentioned the hassle underscores renewed nationwide curiosity in recommissioning nuclear initiatives to diversify era portfolios and tackle surging electrical energy demand extra effectively.
Comparatively, small modular reactors (SMRs) nonetheless face “first-of-a-kind” dangers and uncertainties, Ketchum steered. “If we’re pondering as a rustic about their capability to contribute to all the facility demand that we see that’s right here proper now, my solely remark is that I might take into consideration them extra as a ‘subsequent decade’ resolution—most likely center of the latter a part of the subsequent decade,” he mentioned. NextEra continues to guage options, however the sensible actuality is that the corporate is “unlikely so as to add a number of gigawatts of latest nuclear to the grid over the subsequent decade,” he mentioned.
Gasoline Construct Out Should Begin Now for Power Safety
For now, NextEra is trying to pure gasoline as a bridge gas. Over the subsequent 4 years, bolstered by its partnership with GE Vernova, the businesses plan to collectively determine places on the grid that might profit from new gas-fired era. GE Vernova will incorporate its “world-class pure gasoline era applied sciences and significant electrical electrification options whereas leveraging its monetary service capabilities,” Ketchum mentioned.
Demand for brand new gasoline energy is starting to ramp up domestically and all over the world, which is placing important stress on prices. “I look again to only our final gas-fired facility that we constructed right here in Florida— Dania Seaside,” a 2022-opened plant that featured state-of-the-art GE 7HA.03 generators. “If we take the associated fee we paid for that facility on a $/kW foundation to immediately, I imply, the associated fee has tripled in value,” he mentioned.
As we speak, pushed by hovering demand, gasoline generators and engineering, procurement, and development (EPC) labor are in brief provide, and “prices there have tripled,” Ketchum mentioned. He famous that the nation is “ranging from a standing begin” on gasoline era, explaining, “Whenever you take a look at discovering a website, getting it permitted, getting gasoline to the power, getting interconnected, after which the tools limitations of really getting a turbine slot, having access to that turbine, after which the EPC labor—keep in mind, that is an trade that actually hasn’t seen any energetic improvement or development in years. That’s my remark earlier about actually starting from a standing begin, and all of that places stress on price.”
By way of a timeframe, Ketchum estimated new gas-fired era might come on-line in “2030 and past,” with exceptions in areas just like the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). “In ERCOT, you possibly can construct extra rapidly than you possibly can in different components of the nation,” he mentioned. In different components, together with PJM, “it’s simply not straightforward to get the gasoline to these services and get gasoline infrastructure constructed.”
Whereas the brand new Trump administration is more likely to discover reforms to make that simpler, prospects face dangers, together with potential litigation. Coverage impacts anticipated from the brand new Trump administration aren’t in any other case anticipated to make a huge impact on NextEra’s planning, Ketchum steered, noting 80% of the corporate’s capital spending has gone to Republican-led states.
The partnership with GE Vernova will add one other layer of certainty to permit NextEra to supply prospects with built-in renewable, storage, and gas-fired options whereas leveraging each the businesses’ scale, expertise, expertise, and improvement expertise. The settlement units one other instance of why NextEra’s power sources enterprise has the “most complete energy era enterprise on the planet” and is well-positioned to capitalize on long-term development prospects, he added.
—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).
