Walmart has signed a power purchase agreement with Constellation to source electricity from the Dresden Clean Energy Centre in Illinois, a deal that deserves attention well beyond its headline. It is not just another corporate sustainability announcement. It is a signal of how large buyers are recalibrating their energy strategies around nuclear power, and what that means for the companies that supply, finance, and advise on clean energy infrastructure.
The deal in context
Walmart’s commitment supports the perishable distribution centre it is developing in Illinois, part of the broader supply chain modernisation the company has been rolling out. The retailer already has a significant footprint in the state, with an estimated 175 stores and clubs employing more than 55,000 associates. Powering new logistics infrastructure with clean, reliable electricity is as much an operational decision as an environmental one. Distribution centres run around the clock, and reliability of supply matters more than almost any other factor in that kind of facility.
The Dresden plant itself adds weight to the story. Constellation relicensed the facility in December, extending operation of its generators through 2049 and 2051. The Walmart agreement includes 30 MW of expanded generation capacity at the plant. For Constellation, described as the nation’s largest producer of clean, zero-emissions energy, this is not simply a sale of electrons. It is a long-term revenue commitment that helps justify continued investment in a plant with decades of remaining life. Jim McHugh, Constellation’s Chief Commercial Officer, framed it exactly this way, noting that Walmart’s commitment enables meaningful investment in the Dresden Centre and supports more dependable, emissions-free power flowing onto the Illinois grid.
This is the commercial logic that increasingly underpins corporate nuclear deals. A buyer’s demand for firm, carbon-free power gives an operator the cash flow certainty to extend a plant’s life, upgrade its output, or in some cases avoid premature retirement altogether. The buyer gets reliable supply and a credible sustainability claim. The operator gets a long-dated contract that de-risks continued operation. The grid gets additional firm capacity at a time when demand growth, particularly from data centres and industrial users, is outpacing new supply in many regions.
Part of a wider pattern
Walmart’s move follows a similar deal Constellation signed with Meta last year, which will keep the Clinton Clean Energy Centre in Illinois running for an additional 20 years. Two major consumer-facing and technology companies choosing to back existing nuclear capacity in the same state, within roughly a year of each other, is not a coincidence. It reflects a growing preference among large buyers for nuclear as a clean firm resource, distinct from intermittent renewables like wind and solar.
Walmart’s own emissions targets help explain the timing. The company has set a goal of net-zero emissions across its global operations, covering scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, by 2040. Interim targets call for half of its global operations to run on renewables by 2025 and all of its operations to be powered by renewables by 2035. According to its fiscal year 2025 ESG report, 48.5% of Walmart’s global electricity needs were met by renewable sources in 2024, with 30.6% of that met through renewable energy contracts. Walmart has also acknowledged it is not on track to meet its 2025 and 2030 emissions goals, even as it reaffirms its long-term commitment. Deals like the Constellation agreement are a practical way to close that gap, adding firm, contracted clean capacity rather than relying solely on unbundled renewable energy certificates or shorter-term arrangements.
The bigger number behind the trend
The scale of this shift shows up clearly in industry data. Corporate energy buyers announced the procurement of approximately 5.1 gigawatts of nuclear energy in 2025, more than double the 2.2 gigawatts procured in 2024, according to a March report from the Corporate Energy Buyers Association. The report attributes this growth to the increasing role of clean firm technologies, including nuclear, geothermal, hydropower, fusion, and carbon capture and storage, in corporate energy portfolios. Nuclear’s ability to deliver continuous, dispatchable output without emissions makes it a natural fit for buyers who need both decarbonization progress and operational reliability, a combination that variable renewables alone cannot guarantee.
What this means going forward
For the nuclear energy business, the implications are straightforward. Existing plants with strong safety and performance records are becoming strategic assets for corporate buyers, not just utilities. Relicensing decisions, like the one at Dresden, are increasingly being made with an eye toward this new class of demand. Expect more operators to pursue license extensions and uprates once they see credible long-term offtake from corporate buyers rather than waiting solely on utility contracts or public policy support.
If the 2024 to 2025 growth in corporate nuclear procurement continues at a similar pace, 2026 could see corporate buyers commit to well over 8 gigawatts of nuclear capacity globally, particularly as data centre operators, retailers with large logistics footprints, and industrial users compete for firm, carbon-free power in constrained grid regions. Illinois, with its concentration of nuclear capacity and now two major corporate offtake deals in quick succession, is likely to remain a focal point. Other states and countries with underutilised nuclear assets should expect similar interest, as buyers look past the volatility of merchant power markets toward long-term contracts that keep proven plants running well into the 2040s and beyond.
For advisors, investors, and operators in the nuclear sector, the message from this deal is simple. The commercial case for nuclear is no longer built primarily on climate policy. It is being built, deal by deal, on the balance sheets of the world’s largest energy buyers.
