You know that America is in the midst of a potential nuclear renaissance. I say potential because it can’t really be a renaissance until new generation begins coming online. As of now, there are plans for a lot of it, including in Victoria, Texas, where GE and Blue Energy are preparing a “gas-plus-nuclear” power plant. Blue Energy explained the plan in a release, writing:
Blue Energy, a vertically integrated deployment platform for financeable, prefabricated nuclear power plants and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GVH), today announced the signing of an agreement that launches the next phase of their collaboration to deploy a 2.5 GW gas-plus-nuclear power plant in Texas.
This agreement advances engineering design, licensing, and safety analysis of the Victoria, Texas, project that will deploy both GE Vernova 7HA.02 gas turbines and GVH BWRX-300 SMRs, subject to a final investment decision in 2027. The agreement represents a significant step forward for Blue Energy’s strategic pairing of natural gas and nuclear generation to help meet surging U.S. electricity demand driven by artificial intelligenceand advanced manufacturing.
Blue Energy’s integrated approach to prefabrication, transportation, and assembly – the “Blue Way” – builds on the standardized, modular design of the BWRX-300 to support execution certainty by enhancing schedule, costs and project delivery predictability through innovative logistics, off-site fabrication and super modules assembly.
“This agreement with GE Vernova Hitachi keeps Blue Energy confidently moving forward to build our nuclear energy production line that will unlock the promise of abundant nuclear energy,” said Jake Jurewicz, Blue Energy CEO and co-founder. “We are shifting from the old way of building large reactor nuclear power to instead do it the ‘Blue Way’ that slashes costs and time to power and finally makes nuclear a financeable, repeatable product.”
With its innovative gas-plus-nuclear strategy, Blue Energy will initially power a nearby data center with approximately 1 gigawatt of power using two GE Vernova gas turbines in 2030 and then add another 1.5 gigawatts of power from up to five GE Vernova Hitachi SMRs beginning in 2032.
“Meeting the surging demand for electricity requires proven, scalable technologies and the ability to bring them together as integrated solutions,” said Eric Gray, CEO, GE Vernova’s Power segment. “Our work with Blue Energy combines GE Vernova’s flagship HA gas turbine technology with GE Vernova Hitachi’s advanced nuclear SMR technology, while supporting Blue Energy’s innovative project model. Together, we are establishing a blueprint for deploying reliable baseload power and at speed customers need.”
The first BWRX-300 is currently under construction at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site in Canada,with completion expected by the end of the decade, which will make it the first grid-scale SMR in the Western world.
Blue Energy CEO and co-founder Jake Jurewicz and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy CEO Jason Cooper discussed the project in a video produced by GE Vernova. Watch:
Action Line: America’s nuclear renaissance is just getting started. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
