Agreement advances Texas gas-plus-nuclear concept to next phase

On Thursday, the two companies announced an agreement to advance to the engineering design, licensing, and safety analysis phase for a potential plant in Victoria, Texas, complete with GVH BWRX-300 small modular reactors and GE Vernova 7HA.02 gas turbines. All of this is subject to a final investment decision coming in 2027.

Bridging gas and nuclear: With the gas-plus-nuclear model, by 2030 Blue Energy expects to be providing a nearby data center with about 1 GW of capacity from a pair of GE Vernova gas turbines. Five BWRX-300s would then come on line in 2032, providing about 1.5 GW of new nuclear capacity.

In a video announcing the agreement, GVH CEO Jason Cooper said it was innovative to bring gas turbine and SMR technology together for a new power project, “basically bridging between gas and nuclear timelines for project delivery.”

“It's about speed, which the data center community and the utilities need right now,” added Blue Energy cofounder and CEO Jake Jurewicz. “But it's also equally as much about derisking and bringing project finance to bear.”

“Meeting the surging demand for electricity requires proven, scalable technologies and the ability to bring them together as integrated solutions,” added GE Vernova Power CEO Eric Gray in a statement. “Together, we are establishing a blueprint for deploying reliable baseload power at the scale and speed customers need.”