$20B Nuclear Bet, $1B Fusion Boost, & Solar Grid Wars

The energy landscape is rapidly evolving in mid-2025, with groundbreaking developments that could reshape our energy future. 

Canadian nuclear ambitions come with a hefty price tag as Ontario Power Generation reveals its planned 300-megawatt small modular reactor will cost $7.7 billion Canadian—significantly more expensive than conventional generation. Meanwhile, NuScale Power reports manufacturing progress and potential deals that could see its modular reactors operational by 2030, while fusion startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems secures over $1 billion in funding from data center developers and tech giants to accelerate its timeline for commercial fusion.

A troubling security development has emerged as U.S. officials discover hidden communication devices in Chinese-made power equipment. These unauthorized cellular radios embedded in inverters and batteries could potentially allow remote control of critical grid infrastructure, raising serious concerns about vulnerabilities in our increasingly digital power systems.

The community solar sector shows remarkable momentum with Nexamp announcing approximately 100 new projects nationwide. Microsoft and Chipotle have both signed significant agreements supporting hundreds of megawatts of new solar development that will benefit thousands of households and businesses. Virtual power plants continue gaining traction, with innovative partnerships forming in Texas and California's demand response programs expanding dramatically—Sunrun alone expects to provide up to 375 megawatts of peak support while paying participants nearly $10 million this year.

What energy innovations are you most excited about? Subscribe to stay informed about the rapidly changing energy landscape and join the conversation about how we can build a more sustainable, secure energy future together.

Chapters

• 0:00 Canadian Nuclear Reactor Costs
• 1:14 NuScale's Modular Nuclear Progress
• 2:19 Fusion Investment and Security Threats
• 3:18 Microsoft and Chipotle's Solar Deals
• 4:50 Virtual Power Plants and Grid Support

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, I've got your energy stories for this, the third week of May 2025. And in the first one, ontario Power Generations planned. First small, 300 megawatt GE Hitachi modular reactor in Canada has an official price tag of $7.7 billion Canadian. That's $5.5 billion to you in the US, with $6.1 billion of that for the BWRX300 reactor that will be located next to OPG's existing Darlington nuclear generating station. An additional $1.6 billion will be spent on related infrastructure such as admin buildings and cooling water tunnels. That would eventually support three additional reactors at a later date. The following three units not yet formally approved, would cost substantially less but bring the entire price tag to an estimated $20.9 billion. Carbon-free, yes, but much higher than other generation resources and cost. The Globe and Mail pointed to a recently commissioned 377-megawatt gas-fired power plant in Saskatchewan coming in at $825 million.

Speaker 1: 1:02

Modular nuclear reactor company NuScale Power says it's in advanced discussions with several possible customers for its reactors and could develop an operating plant by 2030 if they can get a deal signed soon. The company anticipates a July approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for its revised and upgraded 77 megawatt design Of interest. Nuscale says its manufacturing partner Doosan, currently has 12 NuScale modules in production with the potential to manufacture up to 20 annually. Nuscale foresees daisy-chain developments of 4, 6, and 12-module developments with combined capacities ranging from 308 megawatts to 924 megawatts. Ranging from 308 megawatts to 924 megawatts. Well fusion startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems has raised more than $1 billion with recent investment led by an unnamed hyperscale data center developer. Microsoft and Google have both previously invested in the company. Commonwealth plans to build its first functioning 400-megawatt fusion reactor within a decade and in late 2024, commented that it planned to build ARC, a grid-scale fusion power plant in Virginia, by the early 2030s. It hopes to have its smaller SPARC prototype system by 2027.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Reuters reported that US energy security officials found rogue communications devices embedded in Chinese-made inverters as well as batteries. Inverters are the critical devices that connect the direct current DC from batteries, solar panels and wind turbines and EV chargers to the alternating current AC grid. Us security experts who took apart grid equipment over the past nine months have discovered undocumented communications devices, including cellular radios. They've also been found in some batteries from multiple Chinese suppliers. Reuters says it was not able to ascertain how many inverters and batteries had been examined. This matters because such unauthorized communications capabilities could facilitate the breaching of firewalls, allowing potential adversaries to remotely switch off inverters or change their settings. In a worse case, coordinated activity could destabilize power grids and damage energy infrastructure, resulting in blackouts. Now let's go.

Speaker 1: 3:18

Distributed Community solar developer Nexamp plans to develop about 100 new projects across the US. From Microsoft, nexamp will develop, construct and operate 300 megawatts of distributed solar across five ISOs, including New England, new York, pjm, miso and the Western States. Microsoft will buy and retire the Renewable Energy Certificate, the REX, to help meet its commitment to be carbon negative by 2030. Nexamp's going to be plenty busy, it seems, because it's also announced that it inked a deal with Chipotle Mexican Grill for REX, supporting development and operation of 15 new community solar farms generating 75 megawatts in Illinois, new York, maryland and Maine. Chipotle will take credits from 20 megawatts of projects, with the remaining 55 megawatts being used to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to an estimated 9,000 families, non-profits and other businesses in those markets.

Speaker 1: 4:15

Abundance Energy, sonnen and EnergyWell are collaborating on a virtual power plant, a VPP initiative in Texas that will combine behind-the-meter solar power batteries and advanced energy software. Customers can finance and install solar panels and Sunnion Connect home batteries through SolRite, the financing entity, who provides the equipment to eligible households with no upfront cost. The VPP will focus largely on the greater Dallas, fort Worth and Houston areas, offering each resident two 4.8-kilowatt, 20-kilowatt-hour Sun and Core plus 20 battery units. The current customer aggregation to be enrolled in the VPP totals 60 megawatt-hours, with plans for continued expansion. The system monitors solar generation, customer energy use and real-time power prices and determines when to charge or discharge the batteries to optimize the system economics.

Speaker 1: 5:09

And leading residential solar and battery installer, sunrun, reports that it has expanded participation in California's Demand Side Grid Support Initiative and is aggregating power in its CalReady program for more than 56,000 homes with solar plus storage systems to support the grid. Between 4 pm and 9 pm from May through October, sunrun's output has soared from an average 48 megawatts last summer to an expected 250 megawatts per event in 2025, with the potential to peak at 375 megawatts. Participating customers get paid up to $150 per battery for the energy their systems contribute and in 2024 they earned a combined $1.5 million. Sunrun expects this year to pay out almost $10 million to participants. Well, that's all for this week. Thanks for watching and we'll see you again soon.