✦ Repowering the Coal PlantsNarrow moat

Vistra (VST) — the future bets

The most valuable thing a retired coal plant leaves behind is its interconnection.

Vistra owns 8,743 megawatts of coal and lignite generation across seven facilities1. It is dispatchable, it is earning well because the grid is short, and it is going away.

The coal fleet and what happens to itCoal and lignite capacity8,743 MW across seven facilitiesColeto Creek, Texasretires 2027, repowered as gasMiami Fort, Illinoisretires 2028, repowered as gasRemaining coal facilitiesfiveWhat is preservedthe interconnection, the site, the crew
Repowering preserves capacity through a fuel transition rather than adding any. Site capacities approximate.

The company has announced plans to repower Coleto Creek in Texas and Miami Fort in Illinois as natural gas-fuelled facilities upon their retirement, no later than 2027 and the middle of 2028 respectively2. It is also developing additional battery storage and solar at retired or to-be-retired plant sites in Illinois3.

The reason to do it this way rather than build elsewhere is the interconnection. A retired coal plant leaves behind the most valuable thing about itself: a large, permitted connection to the transmission system, on land already zoned for generation, with a workforce that knows the site. Building a gas plant there converts an expiring asset into a new one without joining the queue that is currently the binding constraint on everyone else.

It is a defensive project honestly described. Repowering does not add capacity so much as preserve it through a fuel transition that is happening regardless, and it costs capital to stand still.

The wider point is about what the coal fleet is really worth. Right now those 8,743 megawatts earn real money because the grid needs them. Their long-run value is not that cash flow — it is the option to put something else on the same interconnection when the coal units close. Vistra is exercising that option at two sites and has five more.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Coleto Creek and Miami Fort convert to gas as their coal units retire in 2027 and 2028. It preserves capacity through a fuel transition rather than adding any, and it costs capital to stand still.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Coal capacity to be retired or repowered
8,743 MW across seven facilities

Coleto Creek retires no later than 2027 and Miami Fort by mid-2028, both to be rebuilt as gas. The value of a retired coal plant is the interconnection it leaves behind, and Vistra has five more sites.

Source: Vistra Corp. Form 10-K, fiscal year 2025 ↗
References
  1. ReportedVistra owns 8,743 megawatts of coal and lignite generation across seven facilities
    Vistra Corp. Form 10-K, FY2025, Item 2 Properties and generation fleet — six nuclear generating units at four facilities totalling 6,448 MW: Comanche Peak Unit 1 (ERCOT, 1,200 MW, 18-month refuelling, licence to 2050), Comanche Peak Unit 2 (ERCOT, 1,200 MW, 2053), Beaver Valley Unit 1 (PJM, 939 MW, 2036), Beaver Valley Unit 2 (PJM, 933 MW, 2047), Perry (PJM, 1,268 MW, 24-month refuelling, 2046) and Davis-Besse (PJM, 908 MW, 24-month refuelling, 2037), with nuclear units "generally operated at full capacity"; coal and lignite fleet of seven facilities totalling 8,743 MW; twelve peaking generation facilities totalling 4,822 MW; battery energy storage of 350 MW in California, 270 MW in Texas and 4 MW in Illinois; solar of 538 MW in Texas and 112 MW in Illinois; the Moss Landing 100 MW and 300 MW battery facilities "will not return to service" — FY2025 · publ. February 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedThe company has announced plans to repower Coleto Creek in Texas and Miami Fort in Illinois as natural gas-fuelled facilities upon their retirement, no later than 2027 and the middle of 2028 respectively
    Vistra Corp. Form 10-K, FY2025, growth and portfolio transformation — acquisition of Energy Harbor in 2024 "including 4,048 MW of nuclear generation facilities in PJM"; acquisition in 2025 of 2,557 MW of natural gas generation facilities in Delaware and Pennsylvania (PJM), Rhode Island (ISO-NE), New York (NYISO) and California (CAISO); plans to add 433 MW of uprate capacity from the Perry, Davis-Besse and Beaver Valley nuclear plants in PJM; announced plans "to repower the Coleto Creek and Miami Fort coal generation facilities as natural gas-fueled facilities upon their retirement no later than 2027 and the middle of 2028, respectively"; commercial operations reached at the Oak Hill solar facility in Texas totalling 200 MW; twenty-year PPAs with Meta for a total of 2,609 MW of carbon-free power and capacity from the PJM nuclear plants, with delivery commencing on a portion of operating energy and capacity in late 2026 and full delivery by year end 2027, and uprate delivery commencing in 2031 with full delivery by year end 2034 — FY2025 · publ. February 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedIt is also developing additional battery storage and solar at retired or to-be-retired plant sites in Illinois
    Vistra Corp. Form 10-K, FY2025, Item 1 Business — "The Company brings its products and services to market in 18 states and the District of Columbia, including all major competitive wholesale power markets in the U.S. We serve approximately 5 million residential, commercial, and industrial retail customers with electricity and natural gas. Our generation fleet totals approximately 44,000 megawatts of generation capacity powered by a diverse portfolio, including natural gas, nuclear, coal, solar, and battery energy storage facilities"; the integrated model "enables us to structure products and contracts in a way that offers significant value compared to stand-alone retail electric providers"; five reportable segments — Retail, Texas, East, West and Sunset, plus Asset Closure; retail investors served through TXU Energy in ERCOT, Homefield Energy in MISO and Public Power in PJM, ISO-NE, NYISO and MISO — FY2025 · publ. February 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 23, 2026