Terrestrial Energy Chooses SMR Newcomer Ameresco to Partner on IMSR Project
Longtime renewable energy and microgrid developer Ameresco, which only recently announced it was hiring a first-ever director of nuclear partnerships to shift its focus from solar to small modular reactor (SMR) projects for future data center customers, has wasted no time in connecting with its first revealed partner.
This week SMR startup Terrestrial Energy announced its new partnership with Ameresco. The collaboration will work to advance Terrestrial Energy’s planned IMSR plant, including site identification and project development.
Earlier this year, Texas A&M University selected Terrestrial Energy as one of several SMR design firms to collaborate around campus research for advanced and microreactor technologies. The A&M deal could allow Terrestrial Energy to site a commercial IMSR plant at the university’s RELLIS campus.
“Our collaboration with Terrestrial Energy reflects our commitment to expanding the capabilities of our clean energy portfolio,” said Nicole Bulgarino, President of Federal Solutions and Utility Infrastructure at Ameresco, in a statement. “By exploring hybrid energy systems that leverage the IMSR plant’s heat and power output, we’re enhancing our ability to deliver reliable, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions tailored to the evolving needs of data centers and industrial customers.”
Earlier this month, Ameresco announced it had hired longtime Westinghouse Electric nuclear sector leader Cenk Güler as its first-ever director of nuclear partnerships. The move was a sign of the company’s shift to prioritize SMR nuclear solutions for data center and digital infrastructure customers of the future.
No SMR projects have been built in the U.S. yet, but numerous designs and development deals are going forward as tech giants seek resilient power that is also carbon-free. On other fronts, Microsoft and Meta have signed long-term nuclear power purchase agreements with utility generator Constellation that will fund reopening of Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Pennsylvania and renew the license of the Clinton reactor in Illinois, respectively.
IMSR stands for integral molten sale reactor, a proprietary Generation IV design by Terrestrial Energy. The plants, as designed, would generate high-temperature heat for direct industrial use and combined heat and power solutions.
“Site- and use-specific customization of IMSR plant output and its hybridization with other systems including natural gas are essential to capture today’s market for near located supply of reliable clean nuclear energy. Our IMSR plant excels in its capacity to be adapted and customized to market needs in a grid congested world,” said Simon Irish, CEO of Terrestrial Energy. “Ameresco’s proven track record in energy system integration creates a powerful platform to develop IMSR plant projects that meet the emerging requirements of rapidly growing demand for reliable, carbon-free energy across multiple industrial sectors.”
Part of Terrestrial Energy’s financial backing comes from the recent combination combining with special purpose acquisition company HCM II Acquisition Corp. and going public. The transaction was expected to provide about $280 million in proceeds, plus raise Terrestrial’s enterprise value to about $1 billion, according to reports.
The planned first IMSR nuclear power plant is hoped to be located at the Texas A&M-RELLIS site about nine miles west of the main campus in College Station, Texas. University directors selected the IMSR plant after a request for proposals posted last year.
“Texas is a national leader in energy innovation, and (the) announcement is a clear indication of Texas’ intention to continue that leadership role and our commitment to Gov. (Greg) Abbott’s vision to position Texas as the national leader in advanced nuclear technology,” said Reed Clay, President of the Texas Nuclear Alliance, during a February announcement about the RELLIS project. “Groundbreaking technological advancements like Terrestrial Energy’s Generation IV SMR technology, coupled with the Texas A&M University System’s leadership in nuclear research and development, makes this partnership an important step in the nuclear industry’s growing role in supporting Texas’ grid resilience, including powering data centers, oil and gas production, and wastewater treatment.”
Earlier this year, Terrestrial Energy and Schneider Electric also announced their own partnership around a 190-MW ISMR project.
Molten salt is seen by many in the nuclear field as a good cooling material and fuel mixture with the fissile material for reactors. Natura Resources is building its own 1-MW molten test reactor at Abilene Christian University also in Texas.
Texas A&M is working with numerous SMR developers in addition to Terrestrial Energy, including Aalo Atomic, Natura and Kairos Power.
Many in the energy and data storage industries agree that next-gen nuclear may be the best solution to meet exponential electric load growth expected from new artificial intelligence and cloud-based computing capacity, considering the technology delivers both high capacity-factor and carbon-free power.
