Hyperscalers Fund the Uprates: Google–Constellation 890 MW, Amazon–Calvert Cliffs, DOE's $4.2B Vistra Loan
The "hyperscaler pays for new supply" template (Georgia Power's Google Nuclear-Uprate Deal: Hyperscalers Pay for Utility Generation Under a New Tariff Class) went mainstream in PJM in the first week of October 2026, with three deals in eight days that together define how AI load is now being matched to firm capacity — and who captures the upside.
1. Google–Constellation, announced Oct 6: a 20-year PPA supporting $4.3 billion of upgrades at 11 nuclear units across six sites in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, adding 890 MW of new capacity by end-2032 (first uprate 2028), plus a separate 15-year supply agreement covering 2,700 MW of existing PJM output. Per POWER, the companies framed it as:
"a direct response to PJM's 'Bring Your Own Power' proposal, providing a practical model for how major power consumers can expand new supply alongside growing operational requirements, without state or federal mandates."
Google says the deal brings the new nuclear capacity it has enabled (uprates + restarts, incl. Georgia) to more than 1.5 GW — "nearly 25%" of DOE's 5-GW UPRISE target. Constellation had already signed 920 MW of long-term nuclear PPAs with investment-grade customers per its Q2 2026 filing.
2. Amazon–Constellation, Sept 29: a 20-year PPA covering 690 MW of the 1,790-MW Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland, including a ~190-MW uprate (2030–2032), supporting >$3B of investment and 20-year relicensing. Combined with Google, Constellation now has ~1,080 MW of hyperscaler-contracted uprates.
3. DOE–Vistra, Oct 5: a conditional loan commitment of up to $4.2 billion from DOE's Office of Energy Dominance Financing for uprates at Beaver Valley (PA) and Davis-Besse and Perry (OH). Per POWER: "DOE said the projects could add 433 MW of new capacity, all of it under contract to Meta, and preserve nearly 4 GW of existing baseload output." All three plants are in PJM.
The ratepayer-protection framing is explicit. The deal aligns with the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge (signed March 4 by Google and six other tech companies) and, per POWER, "allows Google to support its growth 'without passing on costs to residential customers.'" The 890 MW is billed as "entirely new" capacity rather than reallocated output.
The open question is BYONC. PJM's Aug 13 filing (Docket ER26-3515-000) allows uprates to count as Bring Your Own New Capacity — the mechanism by which a 50 MW+ new load escapes the Interim Resource Adequacy Service (IRAS) emergency-curtailment regime — only if the incremental capacity raises the unit's installed capacity and its Capacity Interconnection Rights, and capacity that already cleared a PJM auction cannot qualify. As of Oct 7, neither company had said whether the 890 MW will register as BYONC, and the separate 2,700 MW tranche adds no new capacity — it is a financial structure that "ensures that Constellation's operating generation assets continue to deliver energy and capacity to the PJM market."
What it means for who captures the upside: merchant nuclear owners are monetizing existing fleets twice — 20-year hyperscaler PPAs on existing output plus hyperscaler/DOE-funded uprates on top — while hyperscalers buy supply-side optionality and political cover. The BYONC/IRAS ruling (PJM's Reliability Backstop Procurement: FERC Accepts but Suspends — the September Auction Never Happened) determines whether this new capacity actually shields other PJM ratepayers or merely re-labels bilateral contracting. Compare Amazon and Talen Energy Pivot to $18 Billion Grid-Connected Nuclear PPA and Constellation Energy Acquires Calpine for $16.4B and Secures Three Mile Island Restart Waiver.