Google on Wednesday announced that it will help support Elementl Power with an investment into the power producer’s development of three advanced nuclear sites.
Google will “provide early-stage capital to help Elementl Power prepare three potential sites in the U.S. for advanced nuclear projects,” it said in a blog post.
The tech giant will get the “option for commercial off-take” from the three advanced nuclear projects after Elementl has constructed and begun generating power at the sites, according to Google and Elementl Power.
“Google is committed to catalyzing projects that strengthen the power grids where we operate, and advanced nuclear technology provides reliable, baseload, 24/7 energy,” Google Global Head of Data Center Energy said in a statement. “Our collaboration with Elementl Power enhances our ability to move at the speed required to meet this moment of AI and American innovation.”
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Elementl Power said power generation at each site will amount to at least 600 megawatts.
The two companies will team up to “identify and advance” new projects along with utility companies and “regulated power partners,” according to a press release.
Google also said its collaboration with Elementl Power “helps Elementl advance its goal of bringing significant nuclear capacity online by 2025.” In the next decade, the advanced nuclear project developer wants to introduce over 10 new gigawatts, it has said.
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The agreement between Google and Elementl Power comes approximately five months after the tech giant signed a deal with another nuclear energy company.
Through that deal, Google will purchase nuclear energy from “multiple” small modular reactors that Kairos Power is developing. Those reactors “will be sited in relevant service territories to supply clean energy electricity to Google data centers” starting in 2030, Kairos Power said at the time.
The tech giant isn’t alone in looking to nuclear energy for electricity.
Microsoft unveiled a power purchase agreement with Constellation last year. That agreement, which spans 20 years, will “pave the way” for Three Mile Island’s Unit 1 reactor to start back up in Pennsylvania, according to Constellation.
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In October, Amazon said it had entered three new agreements geared toward nuclear energy project development. Those agreements were with Energy Northwest, X-energy and Dominion Energy.
A report from GridStrategies projected that electricity demand in the U.S. will jump by 15.8% by 2029, with data centers, manufacturing and electrification being major contributors.
A separate International Energy Administration report found that U.S. electricity consumption from data centers specifically will rise by 130% from 2024 to 2030.
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Roughly 18% of America’s power came from nuclear energy last year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
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