Walmart signs rare nuclear power deal for Illinois distribution center

Walmart has turned to nuclear power to help run a new cold-storage complex in Belvidere, Illinois, striking a long-term supply deal with Constellation Energy for about 176 megawatts of electricity. The arrangement links a major retailer to one of the country’s most established nuclear sites and underscores how clean firm power is becoming a practical business input for logistics networks that cannot afford interruptions.

Under the agreement, Constellation will supply energy, environmental attributes and capacity from its Dresden Clean Energy Center in Morris, Illinois, through two 15-year terms beginning in 2029 and 2030. The deal includes 30 megawatts of expanded generating capacity from uprates at Dresden and is designed to support Walmart’s previously announced high-tech perishable distribution center in Belvidere. Walmart first announced that project on June 20, 2023, as a 1.2 million-square-foot hub expected to open in 2027.

The timing and structure matter as much as the fuel source. Instead of relying on intermittent renewable certificates, Walmart is locking in round-the-clock baseload power for a facility tied to refrigerated storage, distribution and supply-chain resilience. For companies with large physical footprints and energy-sensitive operations, that kind of certainty can be worth as much as the electricity itself, especially as power demand rises across logistics, industrial facilities and data-heavy businesses.

Walmart said in 2024 that its five new high-tech perishable distribution centers would collectively bring around 2,000 new jobs. In Illinois, earlier estimates for the Belvidere project ranged from at least 450 jobs in five years to as many as 700 jobs in total, making the plant a significant economic anchor for the region. The new supply deal also gives Constellation a long-term customer relationship while supporting continued investment in one of Illinois’s largest nuclear assets.

Constellation said the Dresden site’s two reactors can generate up to 1,845 megawatts, enough to power the equivalent of nearly 1.4 million homes. The plant also carries unusual historical weight: it is home to the nation’s first full-scale, privately financed nuclear plant, which was retired in 1978 and designated a Nuclear Historic Landmark. Dresden Unit 2 is licensed through December 22, 2049, and Unit 3 through January 12, 2051, after Constellation said it invested more than $370 million to relicense its Clinton and Dresden plants in Illinois. The company said the Dresden site supports more than 1,100 family-sustaining jobs, and the Walmart contract extends that role into the next generation of corporate energy procurement.