Meta’s going to revive an old nuclear power plant

An getting older nuclear energy plant that has been on the verge of shuttering since 2017 has a brand new lease on life after Meta agreed to assist its operations for the subsequent 20 years.

Meta and vitality firm Constellation introduced the deal right now, which helps the plant develop its operations whereas Meta makes use of it to attempt to shrink its carbon footprint. It’s the most recent in a flood of latest partnerships between Large Tech and the nuclear vitality trade, and half of a bigger technique Meta has within the works to deliver extra nuclear reactors on-line that may energy AI knowledge facilities.

The plant, known as the Clinton Clear Vitality Middle, is in Illinois and was initially slated to shut in 2017 “after years of monetary losses,” in keeping with Constellation. A tax credit that the state established for carbon pollution-free vitality allowed the plant to maintain working, however solely till 2027. Meta is stepping in to supply some monetary safety past that date, though it declined to reveal the quantity it’s spending on the deal.

It’s apparently sufficient cash to assist the plant perform updates that may improve its vitality output by 30 megawatts, for a complete capability of 1,121MW. For comparability, the primary offshore wind farm within the US — albeit a small operation with just 5 turbines off the coast of Rhode Island — has a 30MW capability and may generate sufficient electrical energy for 17,000 properties.

Protecting the Clinton energy plant open can also be supposed to avoid wasting 1,100 native jobs and generate sufficient electrical energy for 800,000 properties. It was first licensed in 1987, and Constellation applied final 12 months to resume its license by way of 2047.

That is Meta’s first energy buy settlement for nuclear vitality, the type of deal corporations typically strike with renewable vitality tasks to attempt to cancel out the impression their greenhouse gasoline emissions have on the local weather. The plant generates electrical energy and so-called “clean energy attributes” which might be like certificates representing the environmental advantages of producing carbon-free vitality. The additional revenue stream from such certificates is meant to incentivize the buildout of extra clear vitality, lowering energy grid emissions within the long-run — though the real-world benefits are often overblown.

Meta is buying an undisclosed quantity of these attributes to match a portion of its electrical energy use. The corporate has a goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. However its newest sustainability report exhibits that the corporate’s carbon footprint has actually grown since 2019 because it focuses more on AI.

Meta additionally adopted Amazon and Google in supporting the event of next-generation reactor expertise. It put out a request for proposals for nuclear tasks that might add 1,000-4,000MW of recent era capability within the US by the early 2030s. Meta says that effort is ongoing, and that it’s in “ultimate discussions” with a shortlist of tasks after receiving greater than 50 proposals. Constellation says it’s additionally contemplating growing a sophisticated nuclear reactor on the Clinton web site.