Constellation profits boosted with EDF venture

Constellation Energy Nuclear Group advances a joint venture with EDF, operating Calvert Cliffs, Nine Mile Point, and R.E. Ginna; pursuing Calvert Cliffs Unit 3, DOE loan guarantees, and a Nine Mile Point uprate.

Constellation Energy Group Incorporated recently reported fourth-quarter and full-year results for the 2009 fiscal year. The company posted an annual net income of $4.5 billion, compared to a $1.3 billion loss in fiscal year 2008.

Year-over-year comparisons are difficult, as the company experienced several structural and financial changes in 2009. Constellation had originally planned a merger with MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company in 2009, but subsequently cancelled the merger (and paid a $175 million termination fee) in order to form a joint venture with EDF Development Incorporated , a wholly owned subsidiary of Electricite de France SA (EDF) The deal closed in November, and Constellation sold 49.99% of its nuclear fleet to EDF for $4.5 billion, raising the company's earnings for the fiscal year.

The joint venture, known as Constellation Energy Nuclear Group LLC, has three nuclear power facilities in its fleet: the 1,750-megawatt (MW) Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in Lusby, Maryland; the 1,758-MW Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Lycoming, New York, where fourth reactor plans have been discussed; and the 581-MW R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant in Ontario, New York, a lakeside nuclear facility which Constellation purchased in 2004.

Including a planned $9 billion, 1,600-MW unit addition at the Calvert Cliffs facility, Industrial Info is currently tracking more than $10 billion of active projects of Constellation Energy Group. The Calvert Cliffs Unit 3 addition project is one of 19 nuclear projects that applied for a portion of $18.5 billion in federal loan guarantees. Earlier this month, $8.8 billion in loan guarantees was provided to the Southern Company for construction of units 3 and 4 of the company's Vogtle nuclear power station.

"The DOE loan guarantee remains one of the critical components in funding this investment, and we are hopeful that a positive decision will be forthcoming," said President and CEO Mayo Shattuck in a conference call regarding the earnings, as peers like Southern new reactors signaled momentum.

Set to kick off next month is the estimated $50 million uprating project of the Unit 2 reactor at the company's Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Lycoming, New York, even as Exelon Texas plant delay underscored financing challenges. The multi-phase project involves equipment replacement and overhaul, as well as control system upgrades, and will add 158 MW to the unit. The $50 million project is set to begin in March and will take about two years to complete.

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