Meta goes nuclear to power AI with clean electrons

Axios

2 days ago

Facebook parent Meta on Tuesday inked a 20-year deal with power giant Constellation Energy to keep a large Illinois nuclear plant running until mid-century.
Why it matters: It's a big addition to a hot power trend — big tech looking to reactors big and small to meet AI's electricity thirst with zero-carbon energy.
Driving the news: The companies announced a 20-year power purchase agreement for the 1.1-gigawatt Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois.
The plant — which provides enough power for over 800,000 homes — had been slated to retire in 2027.
Constellation, with the Meta deal, now intends to continue operations until 2047 if federal regulators grant an extension it began seeking last year.
How it works: The power will keep feeding the regional grid, but Meta's financing helps enable the plant's relicensing and extended operations.
"Securing clean, reliable energy is necessary to continue advancing our AI ambitions," Urvi Parekh, Meta's head of global energy, said in a statement.
It comes after Microsoft's 2024 deal with Constellation to revive a shuttered reactor at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island (not the damaged one).
State of play: Meta and Constellation didn't provide cost details beyond noting it's a multi-billion dollar proposition.
The agreement will "preserve 1,100 high-paying local jobs; deliver $13.5 million in annual tax revenue; and add $1 million in charitable giving to local nonprofits over five years," they said.
Catch up quick: Clinton had been slated for early closure in 2017, but state legislation created an emissions credit program that brought a decade's worth of support.
The new deal with Meta is a "market-based solution" that replaces those credits and "ensures long-term operations of the plant without ratepayer support," the companies said.
The big picture: Joe Dominguez, Constellation's CEO, said Meta agrees that "supporting the relicensing and expansion of existing plants is just as impactful as finding new sources of energy."
The company pointed to a Brattle Group study it commissioned which found that shutting the plant at the end of 2026 would boost emissions by 34 million metric tons of CO2 over 20 years.
That's "the equivalent to putting approximately 7.4 million gasoline-powered cars on the road for a year," today's announcement states.
What we're watching: The growing mix of big tech deals to support new reactors of various sorts, including small modular tech, though they're typically early stage and aspirational.
Google, Amazon and other heavyweights players are involved, and action includes Meta too.
In late 2024 it issued a "request for proposals" that targets a large pipeline — one to four gigawatts — of new generation.
This morning Meta said it has received over 50 qualified submissions and identified a short list to evaluate.