Wholesale markets increasingly pay two prices: one for energy, a larger one for firmness. MetroVolt is engineered for the second market — 0.61–0.84 GWe of dispatchable, fuel-secure, carbon-free output at >0.9 design availability.
Availability is engineered, not hoped: N+1 redundancy in the balance-of-plant analysis carries plant availability above 0.9, and the absence of a blanket-changeout cycle removes the outage class that caps D-T competitors near 0.71–0.75. The direct-energy-conversion train's electrical front end also responds faster than a steam plant, giving the unit real ancillary-services capability.
Siting economics compound it: a compact core with modest exclusion needs can occupy retiring thermal-plant interconnects — the scarcest, most valuable real estate on the modern grid.
Data centers, electrified industry, and reliability-constrained utilities are signing multi-decade firm contracts at historically strong prices. MetroVolt's required-PPA band ($56–92) sits inside those prints, and its availability story is structural rather than promised. Firm, clean, compact, sited on existing interconnects: that is the product.
| Design availability | > 0.9 (N+1 basis) |
| Output per unit | 0.61–0.84 GWe firm |
| Outage class avoided | blanket changeouts (D-T: ~20–25/life) |
| Required PPA | $56–92 / MWh band |
| Siting leverage | retiring thermal interconnects |