In a landmark move to secure vast amounts of clean energy for its artificial intelligence ambitions, Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, has announced a series of sweeping agreements with nuclear power developers in the United States. The tech giant plans to become an anchor customer for both new and existing nuclear projects, addressing the city-scale electricity demands of its future AI data centres.
Ambitious Deals with TerraPower, Oklo, and Vistra
On Friday, Meta detailed partnerships that position it at the forefront of the tech industry's pivot to nuclear energy. The company will back new reactor projects with developers TerraPower, backed by Bill Gates, and Oklo. Furthermore, it has struck a significant deal with power producer Vistra to purchase and expand the output of three existing nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
While financial specifics remain undisclosed, these arrangements are among the most comprehensive yet between a technology firm and nuclear providers. Meta is targeting an aggressive timeline, aiming to see the first new reactors delivered as early as 2030 and 2032. Its power purchase from Vistra's existing fleet begins later this year.
"We're very eyes-wide-open that the schedule is challenging, but we think it's important to be bold," said Urvi Parekh, Meta's director of global energy. She emphasised the need to meet the urgent electricity crunch driven by AI computing, warning that focusing on distant dates would push the technology out of consideration for near-term needs.
Powering the AI Boom with Megawatt Projects
The AI revolution has dramatically escalated projections for electricity demand, creating bottlenecks in grid connections and spurring a "bring your own power" trend among tech companies. Meta's deals are a direct response to this challenge.
Under the agreement with TerraPower, Meta will help accelerate the development of two reactors capable of generating up to 690 megawatts by 2032, with another six units potentially following by 2035. TerraPower's CEO, Chris Levesque, hailed the deal as "an order for real work to begin a megaproject," noting the significance of being paid to start.
With Oklo, Meta's funding will kick-start a nuclear campus in Pike County, Ohio. Oklo's co-founder and CEO, Jacob DeWitte, called it "a major step in moving advanced nuclear forward." The project's first phase, supported by Meta's prepayments for power, could eventually grow to about 1,200 megawatts.
The Vistra agreement is a 20-year power purchase pact covering 2,176 megawatts from the Perry and Davis-Besse plants in Ohio and the Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania. It also includes an additional 433 megawatts of generation increases, known as uprates, across all three locations. Vistra CEO Jim Burke stated that the plant extensions and uprates wouldn't be feasible without Meta's financial backing, despite rising power prices and federal support.
A Transformative Shift for the Nuclear Sector
This move signals a dramatic turnaround for the US nuclear sector. Just a few years ago, the three Vistra plants involved were expected to close. Meta's commitment follows its 2023 deal to buy power from a Constellation Energy nuclear plant in Illinois for 20 years.
Meta's strategy involves a power-purchase agreement (PPA) model, where it buys the nuclear generation, but the electricity continues to flow to the grid. This approach helps secure the financial future of existing plants and funds new development while ensuring grid stability.
The company joins other tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, who are also investing in nuclear ventures to secure clean, reliable power for their energy-intensive operations, marking a definitive shift in how the industry plans to fuel its next phase of growth.
