DOE Delivers $26.5 Billion in Loans to Southern Co. for 16 GW in Projects, Including New Nuclear

The U.S. Department of Energy is closing on a package of $26.5 billion in loans that the DOE said in a release would deliver more than $7 billion in electricity bill savings for Georgia and Alabama customers.

The pair of loans are to build or upgrade more than 16 GW of baseload power to the grid.

“This includes 5 GW of new gas generation, 6 GW in nuclear improved through upgrades license renewals, hydropower modernization, battery energy storage systems and over 1,300 miles of transmission and grid enhancement projects,” according to a press release from the DOE.

According to the DOE, this is part of President Donald Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda, which seeks to make energy more affordable, reliable and secure.

“America must reverse the energy subtraction agenda of past administrations and add more reliable power generation to our electrical grid. These loans will not only lower energy costs but also create thousands of jobs and increase grid reliability for the people of Georgia and Alabama,” said Secretary of Energy Chris Wright.

Once the funds are delivered, the DOE expects Southern Co.’s interest expenses to drop by more than $300 million per year, allowing the utility to pass savings on to customers. In 2025, Southern Company announced their plans to enact multiyear rate freezes.

The announcement specifically mentions new nuclear power. Southern Co. remains the utility that has most recently build new nuclear units in the US, with the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant becoming the largest generator of carbon-free energy in the US following construction of Units 3 and 4, which were completed in 2023 and 2024, respectively.

The units were the first new nuclear units in the US in about 30 years. The DOE provided a total of $12 billion to plant owner/operators Georgia Power Co. (a unit of Southern Co., Oglethorpe Power Corp. and three units of Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) to help get the units built.

According to the DOE, Units 3 and 4 were the first US deployment of the AP1000 Generation III+ reactor, which was designed as the next-generation nuclear reactor that could provide a standardized design for the US utilities market.

The DOE also has offered a $1 billion loan to Constellation Energy Generation to restart the renamed Crane Clean Energy Center. The unit was shut down a few years ago, but tech giant Microsoft breathed new life into the project by signing a 20-year power purchase agreement in a deal worth an estimated $27 billion.

The Palisades Nuclear Plant, which shut down in May 2022, may also be restarted after receiving a $400 million investment from the state of Michigan, $1.52 billion in DOE loan guarantees and more than $1.3 billion from the Department of Agriculture. This project would also see two advanced small modular reactors built as part of the plant.