An getting old nuclear energy plant that has been on the verge of shuttering since 2017 has a brand new lease on life after Meta agreed to help its operations for the following 20 years.
Meta and vitality firm Constellation introduced the deal as we speak, 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 Massive Tech and the nuclear vitality business, and half of a bigger technique Meta has within the works to deliver extra nuclear reactors on-line that may energy AI information facilities.
The plant, referred to as the Clinton Clear Power Heart, is in Illinois and was initially slated to shut in 2017 “after years of economic losses,” in line with Constellation. A tax credit score that the state established for carbon pollution-free vitality allowed the plant to maintain operating, however solely till 2027. Meta is stepping in to offer some monetary safety past that date, though it declined to reveal the quantity it’s spending on the deal.
It’s the most recent in a flood of latest partnerships between Massive Tech and the nuclear vitality business
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 simply 5 generators off the coast of Rhode Island — has a 30MW capability and might generate sufficient electrical energy for 17,000 properties.
Maintaining 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 utilized final yr to resume its license via 2047.
That is Meta’s first energy buy settlement for nuclear vitality, the form of deal corporations typically strike with renewable vitality initiatives to attempt to cancel out the influence their greenhouse fuel emissions have on the local weather. The plant generates electrical energy and so-called “clear vitality attributes” which are 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 advantages are sometimes overblown.
Meta is buying an undisclosed quantity of these attributes to match a portion of its electrical energy use. The corporate has a objective of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. However its newest sustainability report exhibits that the corporate’s carbon footprint has truly grown since 2019 because it focuses extra on AI.
Meta additionally adopted Amazon and Google in supporting the event of next-generation reactor know-how. It put out a request for proposals for nuclear initiatives that might add 1,000-4,000MW of latest technology capability within the US by the early 2030s. Meta says that effort is ongoing, and that it’s in “closing discussions” with a shortlist of initiatives after receiving greater than 50 proposals. Constellation says it’s additionally contemplating growing a sophisticated nuclear reactor on the Clinton website.
