Constellation Energy signs 20‑year Amazon deal for 690 MW at Calvert Cliffs
The pact is expected to enable more than US$3B in Maryland investment, with 190 MW of new generating capacity planned for 2030 to 2032.
Ines Halvorsen
Between 2030 and 2032, approximately 190 megawatts of new nuclear generating capacity is expected to come online at Calvert Cliffs under a Sept. 30 agreement announced by Constellation Energy Corporation NASDAQCEG. The 20-year agreement is expected to enable more than US$3 billion in Maryland infrastructure investment. Counterparty Amazon.com, Inc. NASDAQAMZN signed the purchase agreement covering 690 megawatts, including the planned increase.
The 690-megawatt figure is the amount of power covered by the purchase agreement, including the planned 190-megawatt capacity increase. Constellation puts current Calvert Cliffs capacity at 1,790 megawatts, while the uprate is expected to come online between 2030 and 2032. Its Sept. 30 release does not disclose a price per megawatt-hour or a spending schedule for the more than US$3 billion in investment it says the agreement will enable.
Electricity generated at Calvert Cliffs will continue flowing to PJM's regional grid, according to Amazon's Sept. 30 account. The companies also signed a separate retail supply agreement for Amazon operations across PJM's 13 states and the District of Columbia.
Calvert Cliffs is Maryland's only nuclear plant. Constellation says it supplies about 80 per cent of the state's clean energy and produces enough electricity for the equivalent of more than 1.3 million homes. Those figures describe the existing station, rather than the planned capacity addition in the Amazon agreement.
"Amazon's commitment supports the long-term operation of Calvert Cliffs for generations to come and creates a strong foundation for future investment in both the facility and in advanced nuclear technologies," Constellation chief executive Joe Dominguez said in the Sept. 30 release.
Calvert Cliffs Licences Expire in 2034 and 2036
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Unit 1 record puts that operating licence's expiry at July 31, 2034. Unit 2's record lists Aug. 13, 2036. Both licences were renewed in 2000, and Constellation says the Amazon agreement will help provide the revenue certainty to relicense the plant for another 20 years.
A power sale does not itself renew either operating licence. The NRC describes subsequent renewal as an extension from 60 to 80 years of reactor operation, with safety and environmental reviews. Constellation's Sept. 30 release gives no date for a new application or NRC decision, so its next dated plant target is the expected 2030-to-2032 capacity addition.
Read more: Constellation Energy receives NRC environmental finding for 835 MW restart
Constellation also says the agreement will help it advance potential new clean energy plants at Calvert Cliffs. Its announcement names no design, equipment order, construction budget or completion date for those plants. The 190-megawatt addition is an uprate at the existing 1,790-megawatt station, not a newly ordered reactor.
Elsewhere in PJM, Talen Energy Corporation NASDAQTLN signed its own Amazon nuclear agreement on June 11, 2025, covering 1,920 megawatts from Susquehanna in Pennsylvania at full contract quantity. Talen expects deliveries to reach that level no later than 2032; its contract runs through 2042. The 1,920 megawatts is a purchase quantity, while Talen describes any additional plant output from uprates as a separate possibility.
Constellation's next dated plant milestone is the expected addition of approximately 190 megawatts of generating capacity between 2030 and 2032. Its Sept. 30 release gives no date for a subsequent licence application.
