While un-retiring plants and building new nuclear have been trending topics in the power industry recently, another strategy may be a cheaper alternative: maximizing the output of existing plants.
Constellation is hoping to do just that by investing about $100 million to upgrade critical electrical systems and plant equipment at Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center in Lusby, Maryland. These upgrades are meant to ensure continued safe and reliable operations and enable a potential renewal of the plant’s operating licenses and a future increase in power output.
“Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center is the largest source of clean, 24/7 power in Maryland and we are making substantial financial investments to keep it running reliably while generating economic development in Maryland,” said Joe Dominguez, Constellation president and CEO. “With prudent energy policies and customer demand for clean and reliable energy, there is an opportunity for hundreds of millions of dollars of additional investment at Calvert to upgrade the plant and ensure that it can power Maryland for decades to come, supporting thousands of good-paying jobs for families.”
Work will begin on many of the equipment upgrades later this month during Calvert Cliffs’ Spring refueling outage. This year’s outage schedule includes refurbishment and replacement of critical pumps, motors, valves and control rod systems, as well as an overhaul of the plant’s 13KV transformer. Many of the tasks performed during the outage cannot be accomplished while the unit is online, Constellation said.
Constellation is also investing $68 million in 24 “state-of-the-art” electrical breakers to upgrade its substation and to help enable future customer service on the grid. Preliminary analysis indicates that further upgrades at Calvert Cliffs could increase electricity production by roughly 10%, the company said, which would produce more carbon-free power than all the wind and utility-scale solar currently operating in Maryland.
“The Calvert County Chamber of Commerce applauds Constellation’s continuous commitment to Southern Maryland,” said Kathyrn Maney, president & CEO of the Calvert County Chamber of Commerce. “Constellation’s refueling outage brings family sustaining jobs and a significant increase in revenue for local businesses, the backbone of our economy. These critical projects will help attract new businesses to Southern Maryland, ensuring the region reaps economic and environmental benefits and helps to increase the reliability of continuous affordable power for more than one million Marylanders.”
Located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center is Maryland’s only nuclear energy facility. It contributes $23 million annually in property taxes and employs more than 800 full time employees. The station is home to two pressurized water reactors capable of delivering 1,756 MW, which is roughly 40% of Maryland’s total power generation and 80% of the state’s clean power generation. Unit 1 went into commercial service in 1975 and Unit 2 in 1977.
