Amazon Locks In 690 Megawatts of Nuclear Power From Maryland's Calvert Cliffs Plant for 20 Years

Amazon signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy Corp. on Wednesday, September 30, locking in 690 megawatts of nuclear power from Maryland's Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center, according to a statement from Constellation reported by Bloomberg and the American Public Power Association.

The deal is Amazon's first agreement to fund an uprate project, a plan to physically increase output at an existing nuclear plant, according to the Wall Street Journal as cited by Quartz. Of the 690 megawatts, 190 will come from new generating capacity added to Calvert Cliffs between 2030 and 2032.

Calvert Cliffs is Maryland's only nuclear plant. Its two reactors generate roughly 1,790 megawatts combined, enough to power more than 1.3 million homes, and supply about 80% of the state's clean electricity, according to Constellation and the American Public Power Association.

$3 Billion and a License Fight Ahead

The agreement is expected to support more than $3 billion in infrastructure investment at the plant, according to Constellation. Neither company disclosed pricing terms.

"This agreement demonstrates how private investment can strengthen critical energy infrastructure," Constellation Chairman, President and CEO Joseph Dominguez said in a statement carried by Benzinga and Yahoo Finance.

The contract also buys Constellation something harder to put a number on: revenue certainty heading into a license fight. Calvert Cliffs' two reactors come up for operating license review in 2034 and 2036, according to the Wall Street Journal via Quartz, and the long-term Amazon contract gives Constellation the financial footing to pursue a 20-year extension. Amazon and Constellation are also exploring whether small modular reactors could be built on-site, Quartz reported.

All electricity Calvert Cliffs generates keeps flowing into the PJM Interconnection, the regional grid covering 13 states. Amazon and Constellation struck a separate retail supply agreement to cover Amazon's broader electricity needs across that same PJM footprint.

Amazon Dropped Its Own Data Center Plan at the Site

Amazon walked away last month from plans to build a data-center campus directly adjacent to Calvert Cliffs after running into community opposition, according to the Wall Street Journal as reported by Quartz. Instead of co-locating a data center there, Amazon is now simply buying power from the plant and helping fund its expansion, with the electricity routed through the regular grid rather than a dedicated on-site line.

Residents near Calvert Cliffs pushed back on the idea of a massive data center sitting next to the plant, and Amazon changed course. Critics of rapid data center buildout nationwide, from Virginia to Texas, have raised similar concerns about land use, water consumption, and noise. Amazon's retreat at Calvert Cliffs demonstrates that local opposition can affect corporate planning.

Goldman Sees It as a Win for the Whole Grid

Goldman Sachs analyst Carly Davenport called the deal "positive for industry broadly," according to ZeroHedge and Token Post, saying it benefits both Constellation and the wider power complex as utilities pursue AI-driven demand. Constellation shares closed at $254.02 on Wednesday and jumped 2.75% in after-hours trading to $261, according to Benzinga Pro data cited by Benzinga and Yahoo Finance. Amazon shares closed at $249.15 and ticked up 0.41% after hours to $250.16.

The deal fits a pattern. Southern Company's Georgia Power and Google struck an agreement last week to support nuclear uprates at the Vogtle and Hatch plants, according to Benzinga. Meta Platforms and Microsoft have both signed their own nuclear power agreements. Amazon separately has a power purchase deal with Talen Energy tied to Pennsylvania's Susquehanna plant and is financing small modular reactor development in Washington state, per the Wall Street Journal via Quartz.

Market commentary from the Kobeissi Letter, cited by Benzinga and Yahoo Finance, estimates global AI electricity demand could surge more than 1,100% by 2033 to roughly 315 gigawatts, with the U.S. accounting for about 200 gigawatts of that increase. AI model training creates synchronized demand spikes that can push electricity consumption up to 50% above a facility's designed capacity, according to the same commentary.

Nuclear's advantage over wind and solar is straightforward: it runs continuously regardless of weather, and it doesn't carbon-emit during generation. That's exactly the kind of steady baseload power a data center full of GPUs training AI models actually needs, not an intermittent source that disappears when the sun goes down.

The unresolved question is pricing. None of the companies disclosed the rate Amazon is paying for the 690 megawatts, and Goldman's Davenport noted only that investors should watch Constellation's broader disclosures on free cash flow sensitivity from data center contracts. Whether ratepayers in Maryland see costs shift as Calvert Cliffs' output gets split between the grid and Amazon's dedicated supply remains to be seen once the 190-megawatt uprate comes online between 2030 and 2032.