Vistra's Comanche Peak PPA With AWS: Up to 1,200 MW, Ramp by 2032

Vistra's 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply Amazon Web Services with up to 1,200 MW from the Comanche Peak nuclear plant in Texas comes up again when Vistra reports third-quarter results on Nov. 6, 2026.

The deal dates from Sept. 29, 2025, when Vistra told the SEC in an 8-K that it would supply a "large, investment grade company" from the plant, with options to extend for up to another 20 years. Vistra named AWS as the buyer in its full-year 2025 results on Feb. 26, 2026, describing the volume there as "up to 1,200 MW". Amazon's own third-quarter release on Oct. 29, 2026, which keeps 2026 cash capital spending at about $220 billion, says nothing about the agreement or any nuclear supply, according to the filing. The release is not the earnings call, which followed it, and any remarks on nuclear supply would come there or in the 10-Q.

For Amazon, this is supply from a plant that already runs, not a reactor still to be licensed. The catch is timing: Vistra anticipates first deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2027 and the full 1,200 MW only by 2032. Both dates are Vistra's targets, and the steps between them have not been disclosed.

Comanche Peak's Reactors and Technology

Comanche Peak sits in Glen Rose, about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. It has two Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water reactors, the conventional light-water design of the US fleet. The NRC licenses each unit for 3,612 MWt. That figure is reactor heat, not electricity; only part of that heat becomes electricity. Utility Dive describes the plant as 2.4 GW (2,400 MW) without saying net or gross, against the up to 1,200 MW contracted to Amazon.

No new technology is involved: these are conventional pressurized water reactors, and the units have held operating licences since 1990 and 1993. That avoids the first-of-a-kind design and fuel-supply questions of Amazon's small modular reactor projects; the campus connection remains the open step.

Why 3,612 MWt Is Not 3,612 MW

A pressurized water reactor heats water in its core, and that heat makes steam that spins a turbine. The NRC rates each Comanche Peak unit at 3,612 MWt, a thermal figure; the electricity that leaves the plant is a separate rating, and Utility Dive describes the two-unit plant as 2.4 GW without saying net or gross. Vistra's PPA with AWS is a third number: up to 1,200 MW of supply, a contract size and not a reactor rating.

The consequence is time to power. Both units already run under NRC operating licences to 2050 and 2053, so the contract waits on the campus connection, not on a reactor build. Vistra's delivery dates are targets: first power in Q4 2027, full capacity by 2032.

PPA Terms, Price and Cash Flow

The agreement is a PPA between Vistra, the seller, and AWS, the buyer, according to Vistra's filings. Vistra has not disclosed the price, the ramp steps between 2027 and 2032, or whether the power is delivered over the ERCOT grid or to a load connected at the plant. Vistra's filings do not say whether power is delivered over the grid or to a load connected at the plant.

The only financial figure on the deal itself is Vistra's own. Its 8-K projects incremental Adjusted Free Cash Flow before Growth accretion of about 8% to 10% if the customer uses the full capacity, based on forward prices as of Aug. 29, 2025.

On Vistra's Feb. 26 call, CEO Jim Burke said Amazon would site a facility to use the 1,200 MW and that the agreement includes options to explore new nuclear development, with a focus on possible upgrades and SMRs, World Nuclear News reported. Those are options to explore, not a decision to build. World Nuclear News also reported that Vistra sees potential upgrades of approximately 200 MW at Comanche Peak, a potential rather than a plan and not tied to Amazon.

Licensing and Delivery Timeline

The PPA itself needs no new reactor licence, based on the filings read. In 2024 Vistra said the NRC had approved extending the plant's operation 20 years beyond the original licences, the American Public Power Association reported. The NRC's pages now show Unit 1's operating licence expiring on Feb. 8, 2050, and Unit 2's on Feb. 2, 2053.

The schedule therefore rests on the campus and its grid hook-up, not the reactors. Utility Dive reports that Amazon is building a $5 billion data center project close to the plant. According to Utility Dive, Burke said on Vistra's Aug. 7 call that the data center was still on track to energize next year and that Vistra expects the load to hook up in the 2027 to 2028 time frame.

What It Means for Amazon's Data Centers

Comanche Peak is Amazon's Texas leg of existing-plant nuclear supply. It sits beside the Talen agreement at Susquehanna, which Voltgrid reported runs up to 1,920 MW through 2042 and moved to a front-of-the-meter structure in April 2026. The third is Constellation's 20-year deal at Calvert Cliffs, 690 MW, of which about 190 MW is an uprate targeted for 2030 to 2032, with output staying on the PJM grid. The three rest on different terms, start dates and grid arrangements, so their volumes should not be added together.

The Texas risk is the queue, not the reactors. Vistra backs the state's pause on data center development while ERCOT audits an interconnection queue that Utility Dive puts at 474 GW, mostly large loads. Vistra executives said they do not expect the pause to affect the Comanche Peak deal. No source links the audit to the delivery date; if it did slow the campus connection, the Q4 2027 start would be the date at risk, which is Voltgrid's inference.

What to Watch at Vistra's Nov. 6 Call

Vistra's Nov. 6 results call, at 10 a.m. ET, is the next chance for an update on the campus energization and the 2027 delivery start. After that, the dated milestones are Vistra's targets: first deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2027 and full capacity by 2032. Still undisclosed are the price, the grid configuration and the end date of the 20-year term.