Commercial

Last Energy Plans a Site in Texas

By Rachael Zisk
Share
Image: Last Energy

The Lone Star State is positioning itself as the most pro-nuclear state in the union, and industry is taking notice. The latest to take up the reins in Texas: microreactor developer Last Energy.

On Friday, Last Energy announced that it secured a site in Haskell County in north Texas, near Abilene, to build 30 microreactors totaling 600 MW of capacity for the grid. 

“Texas is the energy capital of America, and we are working to be No. 1 in advanced nuclear power,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement to the company. “Last Energy’s microreactor project in Haskell County will help fulfill the state’s growing data center demand. Texas must become a national leader in advanced nuclear energy.”

Why Texas? Last Energy is positioning itself to meet the growing power demand from data centers, especially in Texas, where more than 340 data centers operate today—and where load growth could drive a 43 GW increase in demand by 2029, per Grid Strategies.

“Texas is experiencing a demand surge, which, coupled with its ascent as a data center ecosystem, makes this project a compelling opportunity,” Last Energy SVP of Commercial Michael Crabb told Ignition via email. “The need for, and support for, nuclear power in Texas has created a promising environment for microreactors.”

Still on track: Last Energy’s strategy has previously focused on deploying its microreactors in European markets, identifying the UK as its first partner. That’s still the case for the company’s first deployments.

  • “Companies are looking for ways to sidestep the restraints of the grid, but there’s also a pronounced emphasis on industrial decarbonization—due to customer demand, investor demand, regulatory obligations—in the UK,” CEO Bret Kugelmass told Ignition last year.
  • Last Energy plans to build its first microreactor in Wales in 2027 as part of a four-reactor project.

Get moving: Plans are already in motion for the Texas project. The company has secured a 200+ acre site, filed for grid interconnection with ERCOT, and begun pre-application activities for an NRC license.

+ posts

Lead Reporter of Ignition

Share
Return Home
Related Stories
Commercial • Fusion

Google Goes for Fusion With CFS

Watch out, world—Big Tech is making another move toward fusion power, and this time, it’s buying future power output. Google has signed the first formal offtake agreement for fusion power in the US with Commonwealth Fusion Systems. The expanded partnership is twofold: The companies declined to share financial details on a press call, including the […]

Commercial

A Change in the Talen and Amazon Deal

Big Tech is checking every nook and cranny for energy that can fuel a rapid and massive expansion of data centers. Nuclear has become a major part of that hunt, to the benefit of both traditional and advanced nuclear providers. But while one of the biggest deals between a nuclear operator and a hyperscaler has […]

Commercial

The IEA Tallies Energy Investment, and Nuclear Ranks High

Nuclear power is playing in the big leagues when it comes to attracting capital around the world. Each year, the International Energy Agency (IEA), an independent intergovernmental organization formed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), counts up the dollars flowing into energy globally. This year, nuclear energy technologies are expected to pull […]

Commercial

Meta Teams With Constellation to Keep a Plant Running for AI

Why build a whole new nuclear power plant when you’ve got a perfectly good one already running? That’s the motivation behind a deal between data giant Meta and energy utility Constellation. This week, Meta agreed to a 20-year power purchase agreement for the entire output of the Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois beginning in […]