Google and Constellation strike $4.3 billion nuclear power deal

Google and Constellation Energy have signed a 20-year power purchase agreement that will add 890 megawatts of new nuclear capacity to the PJM Interconnection grid, with Constellation investing about $4.3 billion to fund the project.

None of the new capacity involves building any reactors from scratch, as Constellation plans to squeeze even more output from 11 nuclear units already in operation throughout Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The company aims to attain this objective by upgrading turbines, steam generators, and digital control systems, a process the industry calls an uprate.

Constellation sees the approach as a faster way to add power than building new reactors from the ground up. The joint project is expected to add 890 MW of new capacity to the PJM grid, and will also support about 4,400 existing jobs while creating another 7,200 construction jobs during the expansion.

A second, larger supply agreement runs concurrently

Alongside the nuclear uprates, Google and Constellation also have a separate 15-year agreement covering another 2,700 MW from Constellation’s existing PJM fleet. The deal is aimed at keeping those plants economically viable and in operation rather than risking their removal from the grid.

The deal also includes a software component where Constellation will use Google Cloud and the Gemini Enterprise AI platform across its operations under a five-year technology alliance. Areas covered will include site selection, cybersecurity and power-flow modeling.

Google and Constellation pitch to regulators and ratepayers

Both companies have related the deal to increased affordability and grid reliability. Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s global head of energy and power, said the company plans to support its growth by investing in clean, reliable power while adding new capacity to the US grid.

Constellation Chairman, President and CEO Joe Dominguez said the partnership could become a model for how technology companies and the energy industry work together to expand the digital economy responsibly. The agreement is also in response to PJM’s “Bring Your Own Power” proposal and keeps alignment with the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge, according to Constellation.

Both initiatives work towards letting large power users add more new supply without shifting any of the costs onto households.

All part of a wider tech rush into nuclear power

The deal is the latest in a run of similar arrangements where tech companies shake hands with nuclear power. Just days earlier, Constellation reached a similar deal with Amazon, which committed to 690 MW and more than $3 billion in investment tied to the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland. It was Amazon’s first deal to fund a nuclear power uprate.

Google also has other nuclear power agreements in place, which include NextEra Energy’s plan to restart the Duane Arnold reactor in Iowa, a reactor that has been offline since 2020. Others cover upgrades at two Southern Co. plants.

Microsoft had also signed a 2024 agreement to purchase nuclear power from the shuttered Three Mile Island plant, which Constellation plans to bring back online in 2027.

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