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Publication series 3 — Economics & Market

What Buyers Sign: The $56–92 Required-PPA Band

The number that matters to an offtaker is the price that makes the plant financeable.

Across the NOAK window at unlevered returns of 8–12%, MetroVolt's required power-purchase price spans $56–92/MWh — squarely inside what firm, clean power already clears in real markets.

The science

The band evaluates the same deposited cost ladder at investor hurdle rates: the levelized price at which units 20 through 50 clear an 8–12% unlevered IRR under the stated scenario conditioning. It is quoted as a Monte-Carlo scenario envelope in the series, with the deterministic ladder deposited as the traceable core (the S63 script prints both and says which is which).

Context anchors from 2024–26 markets are cited in the series: recent firm-power and clean-baseload contracts — including nuclear-restart and advanced-energy PPAs — have printed at and above this band's midpoint.

Why it matters

A required-PPA band inside observed market prints means MetroVolt does not need a policy miracle to pencil — it needs its physics gates. That is the correct dependency order for a technology company: the market risk is bounded and visible, so capital can price the science.

The numbers

Required PPA$56–92 / MWh (8–12% unlevered IRR)
WindowNOAK units 20–50, scenario-conditioned
Deterministic coredeposited S63 ladder
Market context2024–26 firm-power prints at/above midpoint
Dependencyphysics gates, not subsidies (in-model)
Straight answersThe $56–92 envelope is scenario-conditioned; the deposited deterministic corners span wider (51–115), and the S63 script states both plainly rather than blending them.
Every figure in this paper traces to the openly deposited 81-simulation programme (S01–S81) behind the Kronos MetroVolt four-paper design series — data and code at DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21248916 (CC BY 4.0). Read the series, run the code, check us.
Kronos MetroVolt is a conceptual design study. Quantitative values are simulation-derived and carry the feasibility gates stated in the series; Tier-2 flagship-code confirmations are deposited as runnable decks pending HPC execution. This document is informational and is not an offer of securities. © 2026 Kronos Fusion Energy, Los Angeles.