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The tech giants are expanding their clean energy mix
Amazon and Google are investing in nuclear energy projects – mainly the construction of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) – to power its data centres and AI technologies.
The tech behemoths made the announcements within days of each other this past week.
On Wednesday (16 October), Amazon confirmed that it had signed three new agreements to support the development of nuclear energy projects – including enabling the construction of several new SMRs.
In deciding to go the SMR route, Amazon explained that this technology is “an advanced kind of nuclear reactor with a smaller physical footprint, allowing them to be built closer to the grid. They also have faster build times than traditional reactors, allowing them to come online sooner.”
The company recently announced that it had matched “all of the electricity consumed by our global operations with 100% renewable energy – seven years ahead of our 2030 goal.”
Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), said: “As the energy needs of our business and customers continue to grow, we’re continuing to invest in renewables while also finding additional sources of carbon-free energy that can both help power our operations and bring new sources of energy to the grid.
“Nuclear power is one part of that mix – it can be brought online at scale, and has a decades-long record of providing a reliable source of safe carbon-free energy for communities around the world.
“Nuclear is a safe source of carbon-free energy that can help power our operations and meet the growing demands of our customers, while helping us progress toward our Climate Pledge commitment to be net-zero carbon across our operations by 2040.”
Nuclear energy project pipeline for Amazon
Amazon said that in Washington, its agreement with Energy Northwest, a consortium of state public utilities, will enable the development of four advanced SMRs.
The reactors will be constructed, owned and operated by Energy Northwest, and are expected to generate roughly 320MW of capacity for the first phase of the project, with the option to increase to 960MW total – enough to power the equivalent of more than 770,000 US homes.
“These projects will help meet the forecasted energy needs of the Pacific Northwest beginning in the early 2030s.”
The company said it is also making an investment in X-energy, a leading developer of next-generation SMR reactors and fuel, and X-energy’s advanced nuclear reactor design will be used in the Energy Northwest project.
The investment includes manufacturing capacity to develop the SMR equipment to support more than 5GW of new nuclear energy projects using X-energy’s technology.
Using existing nuclear plants
In Virginia, the company signed an agreement with utility company Dominion Energy to explore the development of an SMR project near Dominion’s existing North Anna nuclear power station.
This will bring at least 300MW of power to the Virginia region, where Dominion projects that power demands will increase by 85% over the next 15 years.
Amazon has previously signed an agreement to co-locate a data centre facility next to the Talen Energy’s nuclear facility in Pennsylvania, which will directly power its data centres with carbon-free energy, and helps preserve this existing reactor.
The company is investing more than $500 billion in the projects.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been in South Africa for 20 years – in 2004, a team in Cape Town developed the Amazon EC2 service that “sparked the cloud computing revolution”, said, Tanuja Randery, AWS Managing Director: Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA).
Randery confirmed recently that the company would, in addition, to the over $800 million in infrastructure spent in Africa so far, pledge another $1.5 billion through 2029.
Google goes nuclear
Meanwhile, Google, which opened its first African cloud data centre in Johannesburg earlier this year, confirmed on Monday (14 October) that it is “signing the world’s first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy” from multiple SMRs to be developed by Kairos Power.
“The initial phase of work is intended to bring Kairos Power’s first SMR online quickly and safely by 2030, followed by additional reactor deployments through 2035.
“Overall, this deal will enable up to 500MW of new 24/7 carbon-free power to US electricity grids and help more communities benefit from clean and affordable nuclear power,” said Google.
Google said the agreement is important for two reasons:
The grid needs new electricity sources to support AI technologies that are powering major scientific advances, improving services for businesses and customers, and driving national competitiveness and economic growth. This agreement helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably, and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone.
Nuclear solutions offer a clean, round-the-clock power source that can help us reliably meet electricity demands with carbon-free energy every hour of every day. Advancing these power sources in close partnership with supportive local communities will rapidly drive the decarbonisation of electricity grids around the world.
“This agreement is part of our efforts to develop and commercialise a broad portfolio of advanced clean electricity technologies to power our global data centers and offices.
“This approach will complement our use of variable renewables, like solar and wind, and help us reach our ambitious 24/7 carbon-free energy and net-zero goals.”
Economic impact
Google said the next generation of advanced nuclear reactors offers a new pathway to accelerate nuclear deployment “thanks to their simplified design and robust, inherent safety.”
“The smaller size and modular design can reduce construction timelines, allow deployment in more places, and make the final project delivery more predictable.”
According to the US Department of Energy (DOE), nuclear power has the highest economic impact of any power generation source, and creates “high-paying, long-term jobs.”
The DOE estimates reaching 200GW of advanced nuclear capacity in the US by 2050 will require an additional 375,000 workers.
Growth of nuclear energy projects
In its World Energy Outlook 2024 report released this week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that in countries open to the technology, nuclear power can be an important source of low emissions electricity.
It currently provides 9% of global electricity.
The report said it can offer baseload power, enhance grid stability and flexibility, and optimise grid capacity utilisation, “making it a valuable part of a portfolio of low-emissions technologies designed to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.”
In 2023, five new nuclear reactors with a combined capacity of 5.5GW began operations in Belarus, China, Korea, Slovak Republic and US.
In terms of SMRs, the IEA report said they are under development in several advanced economies, including Canada, France, Japan, Korea, the UK and US. China and Russia are also developing them.
“If they can be brought successfully to market at reasonable costs, they could provide new opportunities for nuclear power in more markets around the world.” |
