Meta introduced Tuesday morning that it was paying billions of {dollars} to maintain an Illinois nuclear energy plant operating via 2047. The social media firm will purchase all of the “clear vitality attributes” of Constellation Vitality’s Clinton Clear Vitality Heart, a 1.1 gigawatt nuclear energy plant in central Illinois, beginning in June 2027.
Electrical energy will nonetheless stream to the native grid, so Meta’s buy received’t instantly energy certainly one of its information facilities, although the corporate does have one about two hours north of Clinton in DeKalb. Reasonably, the deal is a little bit of carbon accounting to decrease the corporate’s general local weather impression. It doesn’t scale back emissions on the grid, however prevents them from probably rising.
Neither firm disclosed actual monetary phrases, however the multi-billion-dollar deal will assist Constellation relicense the plant and assure a buyer at some stage in that license extension.
Massive tech corporations — Meta included — have grow to be vocal backers of the fission business not too long ago. Earlier than the current increase in information middle building, nuclear reactors had confronted a grim future as low-cost wind, photo voltaic, and pure fuel undercut their power-generating prices. However the surge in AI and cloud computing has despatched tech corporations looking for energy, which in flip has led to a string of investments in nuclear startups.
Meta and Constellation have alluded to the deal as a solution to save the nuclear energy plant from shutdown, although neither mentioned it was at imminent danger of closure.
The facility supplier initially deliberate to close down the Clinton reactor in June 2017 because it confronted stiff competitors from low-cost pure fuel, however Illinois legislators stepped in with subsidies that inspired Constellation to maintain the lights on. These subsidies are set to run out in 2027, and Constellation says the Meta deal will assist forestall the closure.
However since 2017, Constellation has not threatened to close down the Clinton energy plant. As a substitute, in 2022, the corporate mentioned it could apply to increase the reactor’s working license via 2047.
TechCrunch has requested Constellation about its plans for the Clinton energy plant earlier than the Meta deal materialized, and we’ll replace this text if we obtain a reply. It’s seemingly that the corporate would have turned to ratepayers, one thing Constellation hints at in in the present day’s press launch: The cope with Meta “primarily replaces the ZEC [zero-emission credit] program and ensures long-term operations of the plant with out ratepayer assist.”
Meta and its large tech friends have fallen head over heels for nuclear energy recently. Meta itself introduced earlier this 12 months that it was soliciting proposals for brand spanking new nuclear energy crops that may generate between 1–4 gigawatts of energy. At this time, the corporate mentioned it has obtained over 50 certified submissions for websites in additional than 20 states.
With the Meta deal, Constellation has landed one other large tech patron for its nuclear fleet. In September, the ability supplier mentioned that it could restart a reactor at Three Mile Island after Microsoft agreed to purchase all of the ensuing energy.
