NuScale Power has landed a deal with privately-owned blockchain data center developer Standard Power to provide two planned data centers in Pennsylvania and Ohio, 924-MW each, with electricity from arrays of NuScale’s 77-MW VOYGR small modular reactors, 12 for each data center. NuScale’s partner ENTRA1 Energy has the exclusive rights to develop, manage, own and operate energy production plants powered by NuScale’s SMRs.
NuScale and ENTRA1 created an exclusive global partnership in 2022 to commercialize NuScale’s SMRs. Standard Power describes itself as providing “blockchain miners focused on Bitcoin and other Proof of Work algorithm cryptocurrency mining an industrial scale infrastructure as a Service platform. The company provides infrastructure as a service with industrial-grade electrical and data center designs, as well as site selection based on low power costs and low environmental impact.” The company’s only identified site is 125 acres in Coshocton, Ohio, about equidistant between Columbus and Pittsburgh, Pa.
The announcement of the nascent deal produced a substantial bump in NuScale’s stock, which has been hammered for many months. The company’s 52-week high was $12.36/share. In 2022, NuScale used a “special purpose acquisition company” (SPAC) to divorce itself from Fluor Corp. NuScale’s shares (symbol: SMR) opened on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday at $4.96, up marginally from its 52-week low of $4.91. It closed on Friday at $5.76, a 23% jump.
NuScale’s press release is filled with lots of business rhetoric and standard industry buzz words: clean power, proven technology, innovative design, and so forth. But there is little detail and considerable obfuscation. The Motley Fool investment website commented, “This contract is probably worth a lot to NuScale — but how much it’s worth remains a mystery.” No financial details are provided in the press release, nor in the company’s Oct. 6 8K filings at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Nor are there any timelines for the deal. The Motley Fool observed, “This being the case, it’s hard to say precisely what effect the contract will have on NuScale’s bottom line — or how long it will take to show up on that bottom line.” To date, NuScale has no significant earnings.
Also, NuScale has no track record. It’s other deal, with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), is long delayed and losing steam. The multiple-reactor project was originally planned to be in service in 2009.
Finally, the press releases state that NuScale’s technology is the only SMR that has Nuclear Regulatory Commission design approval. That’s true but misleading. NuScale’s 50-MW design had NRC approval. In 2020, NuScale upped its reactor design to 77 MW. In March, the NRC announced a review of the changed design, stalling the prior approval. NuScale and ENTRA1 can’t apply for a license to build and operate the reactors until that review allows.