Talen’s 18 nuclear, gas and coal power plants were put under the control of a group of unsecured bondholders, putting the future of around 13,000 megawatts of US electricity generating capacity at risk. 

Talen Energy’s US power plants were placed in bankruptcy earlier this week following cash flow issues caused by last year's high natural gas prices. Bondholders will be handed control of the power generation unit after the company struggled with weak electricity markets and increased spending to meet clean energy mandates. Debts of US$4.5Bn will be restructured through a US$1.65Bn equity financing from unsecured bondholders and the conversion of another US$1.4Bn of debt to equity. A US$1.76Bn bankruptcy loan has been put in place by Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and RBC Capital Markets. 

Talen’s cryptocurrency mining operation adjacent to the company’s Susquehanna nuclear plant was kept out of bankruptcy, along with the project’s data centres and renewable energy and battery storage projects. In 2021, Talen entered into several clean energy initiatives including a partnership with Pattern Energy for 1.4 Gigawatts of utility-scale renewable energy, a 1 Gigawatt energy storage project and 300 megawatts of zero-carbon crypto mining capacity. These investments were driven by a need for future growth and pressure from regulators and investors to become more environmentally friendly and reduce carbon emissions. Sustainability mandates have increased the need for new capital, while raising capital to finance the maintenance of traditional fossil fuel-powered generation has become more difficult. 

Incumbent fossil fuel electricity producers are highly susceptible to swings in fuel prices. As a consequence, green energy initiatives financed on the back of traditional fossil fuel power can be highly unstable. A regulatory and investment environment that results in the bankruptcy of one of the biggest US power generators might need rethinking over the short term. Project Blue predicts that overall global electricity capacity needs to grow by 27% over the next five years, which will require growth through green investments that are decoupled from the current energy balance in order to be sustainable.