Last Energy seeks $103.7M for Welsh microreactor project
American start-up Last Energy has received a letter of interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), confirming the bank’s willingness to move forward with due diligence for $103.7 million in financing for the company’s project in southern Wales.
Last Energy announced plans in October to deploy four 20-megawatt microreactors at the site where the former coal-fired Llynfi Power Station operated from 1951 to 1977. The nuclear units would provide power for midsize industries and data center campuses, the company said. The official name for the project, which is being developed by Last Energy UK Ltd., is Prosiect Egni Glan Llynfi (Llynfi Clean Energy Project).
EXIM’s “willingness to diligence” financing toward Last Energy. according to the letter issued last week by the bank, follows a review of the company’s technology, business model, manufacturing plan, and access to nuclear fuel; however, the letter is nonbinding. Upon final commitment, the bank would cover Last Energy’s entire costs for a single power plant installation.
Quotable: “Receiving this letter of interest from EXIM is the latest in a series of recent milestones that further validates Last Energy’s unique approach to accelerating nuclear deployment by focusing on design for manufacturability,” said Bret Kugelmass, founder and chief executive of Last Energy. “They put us through the wringer—interrogating our physics, technology, supply chain, business model, partnerships, and timelines to delivery—and, after 18 months of rigorous review, have determined that we’re ready for the next step.”
A closer look: EXIM is the official U.S. export credit agency, helping finance American commerce overseas and level the playing field for U.S. goods and services to compete for global market share.
In October, EXIM’s president and chair Reta Jo Lewis visited the United Kingdom to meet with stakeholders in the nuclear and clean energy sector.
“We are eager to expand our commercial ties and continue putting our expertise in the energy sector to work to support nuclear and clean energy exporters,” Lewis said in a news release.
Since obtaining site control and announcing the southern Wales project, the company has hosted supplier engagement events and community town halls to attract attention and support. Last Energy hopes to bring the first unit on line by 2027. The total project is expected to cost around $380 million.
The reactor: Last Energy's microreactor design, the PWR-20, uses standard full-length pressurized water reactor fuel enriched to 4.95 percent and a closed-cycle air cooling system. According to the company, it has commercial agreements for over 65 units across Europe, including purchase agreements for 34 of its units with four industrial partners in the United Kingdom and Poland. The deals, worth $18.9 billion, are “the largest pipeline of new nuclear power plants under development in the world,” Last Energy said.
