As the country endured yet another brutal summer of extended heatwaves and extreme weather brought upon by climate change, Constellation reports that its carbon-free clean energy centers ran at nearly full power.
The company’s 21 nuclear reactors – located at 12 sites from the Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast and including the Quad Cities – operated at a 98.1% capacity factor during the months of June, July and August, the energy company said in a news release Wednesday, Sept. 18.
At that capacity, Constellation said, it produced enough power to keep the lights on and air conditioners humming 24/7 for nearly 15 million homes and businesses. In the same period in 2023, the fleet ran at 99.4% capacity factor.
Locally, Constellation Energy operates the Quad Cities Generating Station in Cordova, Illinois, where it currently has 742 employees.
“There is no doubt that as extreme weather events and intense heat increase, especially during summer months, Constellation’s clean energy centers remain indispensable assets providing reliable and affordable carbon-free energy to American homes and businesses,” said Bryan Hanson, Constellation’s executive vice president and chief generation officer.
According to the release, Constellation technical experts prepared for the extreme summer heat by performing tens of thousands of tasks at nuclear plants during spring refueling and maintenance outages designed to help all reactors run uninterrupted. Tasks included important technology upgrades and equipment refurbishments, tested electrical and distribution equipment, and loaded new fuel.
A company spokesman said the Quad Cities nuclear plant has a refueling outage every spring, which involves about 1,000 contractors coming to the plant for the project.
“As we transition to cooler temperatures this fall, our fleet’s nuclear experts have already begun a comprehensive winter preparedness campaign to ensure the reliability of our facilities will continue in the winter months ahead,” Mr. Hanson added.
In addition to the Quad Cities plant in Rock Island County, Constellation’s nuclear fleet in Illinois includes: Braidwood Generating Station in Will County, Byron Generating Station in Ogle County, Clinton Power Station in DeWitt County, Dresden Generating Station in Grundy County, and LaSalle County Generating Station.
Its fleet in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast U.S. includes: Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Calvert County, Maryland; Pennsylvania facilities Limerick Generating Station and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Montgomery and York counties; and New York facilities Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant and Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Oswego County and Ginna Nuclear Power Plant in Wayne County.
Headquartered in Baltimore, Constellation Energy Corp. is a Fortune 200 company and the nation’s largest producer of clean, carbon-free energy. It also is a leading supplier of energy products and services to businesses, homes, community aggregations and public sector customers across the continental U.S., including three-fourths of Fortune 100 companies.
