MIDDLETOWN – A recently announced agreement between Constellation Energy
Corp. and Microsoft Corp. could lead to resumed power generation from Three Mile
Island’s Unit 1, which was taken offline in 2019 due to economic conditions.
Unit 1 produced up to 837 megawatts of energy (enough to power 800,000 homes) at
any given time when shuttered five years ago, according to a news release from
Constellation.
Microsoft signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation for all energy
produced on the island, starting as early as 2028 after restoration of the turbine,
generator, main power transformer, and cooling and control systems, the release said.
Neither side disclosed how much Microsoft will pay for the carbon-free energy, which it
plans to use for data centers.
The other reactor on Three Mile Island (Unit 2) was the sight of the country’s worst
nuclear disaster in 1979. Unit 2 is separately owned and remains in the process of
being decommissioned.
Constellation intends to rename the plant for its former CEO, the late Chris Crane.
An economic impact study estimated the Crane Clean Energy Center will:
- Add 600 direct and 2,400 indirect jobs.
- Generate more than $3.6 billion in tax revenue.
- Avoid more than 61 million metric tons of carbon emissions, which is the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road for a year.
- Add more than $16 billion to the state’s GDP.
“Before it was prematurely shuttered due to poor economics, this plant was among the
safest and most reliable nuclear plants on the grid, and we look forward to bringing it
back with a new name and a renewed mission to serve as an economic engine for
Pennsylvania,” Constellation President and CEO Joe Dominguez said in the release.
Microsoft’s agreement calls for it to buy the energy from PJM Interconnection, the 13-
state power grid. In July, the Franklin County Commissioners announced a settlement
agreement that ends the county’s active opposition to new transmission lines that would
serve the same grid.
Rob Bair from the Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades Council issued
a statement praising the Three Mile Island project for supporting thousands of jobs
paying family-sustaining wages.
“It will help make Pennsylvania a leader in attracting and retaining the types of reliable,
clean energy jobs that will define the future,” he said.
