Google secures 50 MW of nuclear power for data centers

Google has secured a new source of clean energy for its data centers in the US states of Tennessee and Alabama through collaboration with nuclear technology company Kairos Power and public power utility Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The deal involves a 50 MW advanced nuclear reactor to feed TVA’s grid, which supplies the tech giant’s data centers.

Kairos Power’s advanced nuclear facility Hermes 2, which is set to go online in 2030, will supply electricity to the grid under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with TVA. It is the first-ever offtake agreement in the United States for a generation IV reactor.

Hermes 2, located in Oak Ridge, is the first facility under Kairos Power’s broader deal with Google to enable 500 MW of new, advanced nuclear capacity to come online by 2035, aimed at supporting Google’s growing energy needs. The long-term agreement, signed in October 2024, involves the deployment of multiple small modular reactors (SMRs), Google recalled.

Google’s long-term deal with Kairos involves deploying 500 MW of nuclear capacity by 2035

Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s Global Head of Data Center Energy, said the collaboration would speed up the deployment of innovative nuclear technologies and help support the needs of the growing digital economy while also bringing firm carbon-free energy to the electricity system.

As part of efforts to meet its growing energy needs, Google recently signed the world’s largest corporate PPA for hydropower. The agreement, signed with global investment firm Brookfield, involves developing 3 GW of hydropower capacity in the United States.

Google has signed similar deals for hydropower, geothermal, and fusion energy

Google has also signed similar agreements for next-generation geothermal energy as well as for fusion energy. The company recently revealed plans to invest over USD 25 billion in data center and AI infrastructure in the next two years.

Rapid AI development and digitalization are making power supply crucial for tech companies. Goldman Sachs Research forecasts that global power demand from data centers will increase by 165% by 2030 from the 2023 level.