Reactors

Talen Energy Buys Out a Nuclear-Powered Crypto Mine

By Rachael Zisk
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Image: Talen Energy

Talen Energy is making deals to free up valuable capacity at the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station as it plans for a dramatic shift toward powering big data. The latest update: Purchasing a crypto mining operation using 200 MW of the plant’s capacity.

On Thursday, Talen announced that it had purchased the remaining 25% of a bitcoin mining facility called Nautilus from crypto firm TeraWulf in an $85M deal that also gave it control of a power purchase agreement (PPA) that still had nine years left on the lease. 

Clearing the way: Talen made headlines earlier this year when it sold a data center campus that hooks straight into its 2.5 GW Susquehanna nuclear plant to Amazon Web Services for $650M. 

  • The deal enables AWS to use up to 960 MW of guaranteed power per year, scaling up in 120 MW increments from the beginning of data center operations.
  • The lucrative agreement has contributed to Talen’s stock price nearly tripling since the beginning of the year.

The Nautilus facility, on the other hand, was limiting Talen’s earnings potential. TeraWulf’s 25% stake in the 200 MW bitcoin mining facility was tied to a PPA that doesn’t line up with current market demand for Susquehanna’s nuclear power generation.

“The transaction allows Talen the ability to reset a legacy below-market power purchase agreement and provides us with increased flexibility as we explore strategic alternatives in order to maximize the value per megawatt for our Susquehanna nuclear generation facility,” Talen EVP for Strategic Ventures Cole Muller said in a release.

  • In other words, the purchase lets Talen drop its lower, locked-in energy rate for the Nautilus facility and free up capacity to sell at a more favorable price.
  • Reuters reported earlier this year that Talen was seeking buyers for its stake in Nautilus. Now, it can take advantage of the growing demand for data center capacity.

As for TeraWulf…The publicly traded crypto firm is putting its payout toward brand-new AI infrastructure.

Market check: Talen Energy ($TLN) is trading up ~8% since announcing the Nautilus buyout on Thursday. 

Rachael Zisk
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