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Meta signs power deal with Constellation Nuclear Plant

Meta Platforms announced on Tuesday that it had reached an agreement with Constellation Energy, which will keep one of its reactors in Illinois operational for the next 20 years. This is the first time a Big Tech company has made a deal with a nuclear plant.

Why it's important

The Big Tech Companies are seeking to secure electricity, as the U.S. demand for power has risen for the first two decades due to artificial intelligence and data centres.

Illinois is subsidizing Constellation's Clinton Clean Energy Center nuclear plant with a program of zero emission credits funded by ratepayers. This program awards benefits for the generation of electricity virtually free of emissions of carbon. This agreement expires 2027 when Meta's Power Purchase Agreement will provide an unspecified amount to support the plant for re-licensing, and operation.

This deal could be a template for other Big Tech firms to use to support their existing nuclear power while also planning to power their data centers using new nuclear energy and other sources.

KEY QUOTES

Urvi Parekh is the head of global energy for Meta. He said: "One thing that we hear from utilities very clearly is that they want certainty that power stations operating today will remain operational."

Joe Dominguez said, "We are definitely in conversations with other clients not only in Illinois but across the nation, to step up and do what Meta did, which was essentially to give us a backup so that we could invest in the needed investments to relicense these assets and to keep them operational."

Bobby Wendell is an official with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He said that the agreement would provide a "stable working environment" for the workers in the plant.

By the Numbers

Constellation can also expand Clinton by 30 MW, which is a plant with a 1,121-megawatt capacity. The plant can power the equivalent of 800,000 U.S. households.

Clinton started operating in 1987, and Constellation renewed its license with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year. (Reporting and editing by Leslie Adler; Timothy Gardner)

(source: Reuters)