Vistra's Nuclear PPAs With Meta Target 2,609 MW, 433 MW From Uprates

Vistra's 20-year nuclear power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Meta cover 2,609 MW from three PJM plants, and Vistra's Nov. 6 third-quarter call comes just as Vistra anticipates the first deliveries in late 2026.

The contract has two very different halves. Meta buys 2,176 MW of energy and capacity from two plants that already run, Perry and Davis-Besse in Ohio, and 433 MW that does not exist yet: uprates at Perry, Davis-Besse and Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania. Vistra's latest quarterly filing says part of the operating supply starts in late 2026 and all of it by the end of 2027, while Vistra anticipates a portion of the uprate energy and capacity by 2031 and all of it by year-end 2034 (Meta says the uprates are expected online in the early 2030s). The one change since the January signing is money: on Oct. 5 the Department of Energy offered a conditional loan of up to $4.2 billion for the uprate work, according to World Nuclear News and POWER magazine.

How the Uprates Work at Perry, Davis-Besse and Beaver Valley

Perry is a single-unit plant of 1,268 MW on Lake Erie northeast of Cleveland, and Davis-Besse is a single-unit plant of 908 MW in Oak Harbor, Ohio, on Lake Erie about 35 miles east of Toledo, Vistra said. Those two figures add up exactly to the 2,176 MW operating portion, so Meta has contracted the stated capacity of both Ohio plants. Beaver Valley, a two-unit plant of 1,872 MW northwest of Pittsburgh, contributes only uprate output to this deal.

An uprate raises the licensed power of an existing reactor; POWER notes extended uprates often require significant modifications to turbines, condensate pumps, main generators and transformers. Vistra's second-quarter 10-Q puts the Meta uprates at 213 MW for Perry, 80 MW for Davis-Besse and 140 MW for Beaver Valley. Perry carries most of it. POWER, citing Vistra's January letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), reports that Perry would seek a licensed thermal power of 4,356 MWt, 16% above today's level. A Sept. 15 letter from DOE's financing office to Ohio's historic preservation office, as described by POWER, lists a new auxiliary cooling tower and possible replacement of Perry's main turbine and generator rotor. That makes it heavy plant work, not a software change.

PPA Terms, Vistra's Cash Flow Estimate and the DOE Loan

Vistra describes the agreements as 20-year PPAs for energy and capacity. The electricity stays on the PJM grid for all users rather than flowing behind the meter, and Meta says the plants deliver to grids that support its operations, including the Prometheus supercluster in New Albany, Ohio. Neither company has disclosed a price.

Vistra did give investors a measure of value. In a January 8-K it estimated that, at full delivery and assuming its 2026 Adjusted Free Cash Flow before Growth guidance, the operating portion would add about 8% to 10% and the uprates about 5% to 7% more. It expects uprate spending from 2026 to 2034, with less than 20% of it by the end of 2028, and says timing depends on regulatory approvals, engineering and capital allocation.

The DOE offer is a conditional commitment from the Office of Energy Dominance Financing, the former Loan Programs Office. DOE said Vistra must still meet technical, legal, environmental and financial conditions before definitive documents are signed and the loan is funded, Utility Dive reported. It also carries an option to finance future uprates at Comanche Peak in Texas, the plant behind Vistra's 1,200 MW PPA with AWS.

Thermal Power, Electric Output and the Perry Uprate

A reactor's licence caps the heat it may produce, measured in megawatts thermal (MWt); buyers receive electric megawatts from the generator. An uprate raises the licensed heat limit, and the plant must then be able to turn the extra heat into electricity. POWER, citing Vistra's January letter to the NRC, reports that Perry would seek 4,356 MWt, 16% above its current licensed thermal power. That licensing figure is separate from the 213 MW of uprate energy and capacity Vistra's 10-Q lists for Perry.

The two cannot be converted here, because neither Vistra nor Meta has published the electric output the thermal increase would yield. For Meta the issue is timing: the 2,176 MW from operating plants needs no uprate, while the 433 MW depends on NRC applications not yet filed, with Perry's planned for the second half of 2029.

NRC Licences and the Uprate Timeline

All three plants already hold an initial NRC licence renewal. Beaver Valley Unit 1 is licensed through 2036, Davis-Besse through 2037, Perry through 2046 and Beaver Valley Unit 2 through 2047, Vistra said. The 20-year term runs past the current licences of Beaver Valley Unit 1 (2036) and Davis-Besse (2037). Vistra said the PPAs give it certainty to pursue subsequent licence renewals of 20 more years; POWER reports Vistra told the NRC in a Jan. 14 notice it intends to file them in the third quarter of 2027 (Perry), 2028 (Beaver Valley) and 2029 (Davis-Besse). None has been reported filed.

The uprates have not been filed with the NRC either. According to POWER, Vistra plans one combined application per unit, one unit a year, with Perry first: a filing in the second half of 2029 and higher power in the second quarter of 2031. The NRC's own target for reviewing an extended power uprate is 12 months, POWER noted. Vistra chief executive Jim Burke said in February that the focus on uprates is likely to come after 2028, World Nuclear News reported.

What the Deal Means for Meta and PJM

The operating half is the firm part. The plants hold renewed NRC licences and this portion involves no uprate; it secures output from plants that Vistra said were heading for retirement as recently as 2020. The uprate half is new supply for PJM, more than 15% of the contracted capacity by Vistra's count, but it depends on NRC approvals that have not been sought yet and on a loan that is not final.

PJM's need for that capacity is plain in its prices. The capacity auctions for the 2026/2027 and 2027/2028 delivery years both settled at the price cap FERC approved, above $329/MW-day, POWER reported. The Vistra agreements sit beside Meta's other nuclear bets from the same January announcement, including TerraPower's Natrium units and the Oklo campus in Pike County, Ohio. Vistra's is the only one of the three built on reactors that already run. Uprates are also how other utilities are adding nuclear megawatts, as with the DOE's offer to Constellation.

What to Watch at Vistra's Nov. 6 Call

Vistra reports third-quarter results on Friday, Nov. 6, with a call at 10 a.m. ET. The questions are whether Meta deliveries have begun on the late-2026 schedule, and whether the uprate plan and cost have moved since the DOE offer. After that come the definitive loan documents, Perry's planned NRC filing in the second half of 2029, and the first uprate megawatts, which Vistra expects by 2031. Vistra's 10-Q gives full delivery of all 2,609 MW by the end of 2034 as a target, and neither company has said what happens if the uprates slip.