US Department of Energy Approves US$4 Billion Loan for Vistra Nuclear Upgrades

Yuanta Securities (Thailand) has raised its fair value for Ratch Group, or RATCH, to 46.25 baht per share from 32 baht, and upgraded its recommendation from Trading to Buy, implying roughly 25.9% upside from the share price of 36.75 baht on October 1, 2026. In an analysis dated October 2, 2026, the brokerage said it holds a positive view on several new investment opportunities whose prospects became clearer in late 2026, particularly the renewal of the power purchase agreement, or PPA, for the Ratchaburi power plant and the opportunity to sell electricity to data center operators. Currently, units 1-2 of the RG power plant, with combined capacity of about 1,470 megawatts, saw their contracts expire in October 2025, while three remaining units with total generating capacity of about 2,175 megawatts are due to see their contracts expire in November 2027. If the PPAs are not renewed, the company has the option of selling the output to data center operators, and is in talks with about five to six customers, each of which needs no less than 300 megawatts, while the existing site and infrastructure can support demand of up to about 1,400 megawatts. In addition, the draft PDP 2026 plan, which covers 2027-2037 and targets an increase in total power generation capacity of about 50 gigawatts, is another positive factor. It comprises about 24.3 gigawatts of solar power, nearly 14.5 gigawatts of wind power, about 2.7 gigawatts of natural gas-fired plants, about 9.1 gigawatts of hydropower and the first small modular nuclear reactor, or SMR, with capacity of about 300 megawatts. For the third-quarter 2026 outlook, the research team expects RATCH to post normal profit of about 1.4 billion to 1.6 billion baht, up from the previous quarter, after the RG and HKP power plants returned to more efficient operation and with no major maintenance shutdowns. SG&A expenses are also likely to fall on a seasonal basis, but profit is expected to decline from the same period a year earlier, partly because of the impact of the expiry of the PPAs for units 1-2 of the RG power plant from October 2025.

Finansia Securities said GULF is well positioned to link energy infrastructure and ICT businesses with AI, with a strong financial position and capacity to take on an additional 200-300 billion baht in debt. It estimates that added capacity under PDP 2026 could create roughly 10 baht per share of upside for GULF, assuming EGAT opens bidding for about 10GW of new renewable energy projects next year and GULF secures a 40% share, or roughly 4GW of solar projects, under power purchase agreements at a feed-in tariff of 2.16 baht per kWh. Investment is expected to require about 25-30 million baht per MW, with an IRR of approximately 12%. On the AI megatrend, electricity demand is expected to grow faster than GDP, especially demand for clean power from data centers, which are more power-intensive than general industry. Key catalysts include the new PDP, Direct PPAs for 2GW of data centers, and opportunities to invest in renewable energy projects in Europe over the next year. The research team maintained its Buy recommendation and raised its target price to 89.50 baht per share to reflect the opportunity to add capacity from bidding under the new PDP, as well as the acquisition of a 50% stake in solar and wind projects from GUNKUL, representing total capacity of 339.5MW on a proportional ownership basis. The acquired projects are estimated to have a combined NPV of about 9.7 billion baht based on a DCF valuation with a WACC of 5.5%, adding roughly 0.5 baht per share, with net IBD/E of only 1.06 times.

Oracle and We Energies announced a nuclear power subscription deal on October 2, 2026, under which Oracle will take 10-20% of the output from the Point Beach Nuclear Plant, or 125-250 megawatts, for the $15 billion Lighthouse Campus AI data center in Port Washington, Wisconsin. The campus, co-developed by Oracle, OpenAI, and Vantage Data Centers as part of the broader Stargate initiative, is designed to house close to 1 gigawatt of AI capacity within a 1.3 gigawatt total electrical footprint, with completion targeted for 2028. Oracle has committed to fully funding the energy costs for its portion, and the deal is the primary driver of a proposed $176 million electric rate hike for We Energies customers in 2027, accounting for roughly 20% of that increase, while the utility projects the arrangement will save customers approximately $300 million in fuel costs between 2027 and 2033. The subscription, a first-of-its-kind model in Wisconsin, requires approval from the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, which is weighing whether to require tech companies to cover 100% of new power plant costs. The deal is part of an industry-wide pivot in which Big Tech has contracted over 10 gigawatts of new nuclear capacity in the United States over the past year, including Microsoft's 20-year power purchase agreement for the 835-megawatt restart of Three Mile Island, Amazon's acquisition of a nuclear-adjacent Pennsylvania campus for over $650 million and its $500 million investment in X-energy small modular reactors, and Google's order of 500 megawatts from Kairos Power. Data center power demand reached 29.6 gigawatts by late 2025, equivalent to the peak demand of New York state, and the International Energy Agency projects it will rise by 130% by 2030, even as U.S. nuclear output stayed largely flat between 2020 and 2025 and no small modular reactors are under construction in the country.