Owner of Clinton Power Plant looking to extend contract to 2047

Posted on February 15, 2024
The new contract could extend the power plants contract to 2047. (Photo courtesy; WJBC/File)

By Blake Haas

CLINTON – Constellation, the owner of Clinton’s power plant, filed a license renewal application to keep the plant operating for another 20 years.

Leaders with Constellation filed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission application to extend the contract from 2027 to 2047.

The plant, which provides over $13 million in annual property taxes, education, and county services, produces carbon-free electricity to power over eight hundred thousand homes.

The current contract for the plant could expire in April 2027 unless the Nuclear Regulatory Commission extends the contract.

Renewing the plant could provide Illinois with an estimated 179 terawatt hours of additional carbon-free electricity over the contract’s lifespan.

“The Clinton Clean Energy Center is not only the largest carbon-free electricity source in Central Illinois, but it also provides a major boost to the economy,” Dan Matthews, President of the Clinton School District Board said in a press release.

According to Constellation, Illinois would need to site more than 1-thousand new wind turbines to generate the same amount of electricity that the plant currently provides.

The $4 billion plant, surrounded by Clinton Lake, employs over 530 people.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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