By Naureen S. Malik | Updated on Oct 06, 2026 at 08:36 PM
Blue Energy Global Inc., a nuclear startup, has applied to connect to the Texas power grid, the first company to seek permission to deliver electricity from next-generation reactors in a push to meet surging demand from data centers.
The company submitted an application to connect its project to the grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, according to data released late last week. Blue Energy plans to build as many as five 300-megawatt nuclear systems. The grid operator said it’s the first-ever application for small modular reactors.
Data-center developers have been drawn by Texas’s business-friendly reputation and abundant land, though the state has ordered a temporary pause in new projects amid a public backlash to the facilities. The industry’s voracious appetite for energy is helping boost demand in nuclear power that can deliver clean energy around the clock. It’s also driving interest in new reactor technologies that have yet to be commercialized.
Read more: Blue Energy Submits NRC Application for Texas Nuclear Project
Texas already has four large, conventional reactors that date to the late 1980s and early 1990s, at South Texas Project and Comanche Peak, with a total of more than 5 gigawatts of capacity.
Blue Energy, a Maryland-based company, is planning as much as 1.5 gigawatts of small reactors to supply a Crusoe Inc. data center, enough to power about about 260,000 Texas homes. It’s using a 300-megawatt reactor design from GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, and the company expects the first to go into service in 2033.
It’s also planning to initially build about 1 gigawatt of natural gas-fired generation as part of the same project, with two units slated to begin operations in 2030 and 2031, Ercot data show. Blue Energy has already submitted an application to connect the gas systems to the Texas grid.