According to reports, Meta has signed a 20-year agreement to buy nuclear power from Constellation Energy, continuing the wave of tech giants teaming up with the industry in order to meet the growing power needs of data centers.
Beginning in June 2027, Meta will buy roughly 1.1 gigawatts of energy from Constellation’s Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois, which is the entire output from the site’s one nuclear reactor.
The companies said the long-term agreement will support the continuing operation of the plant, as well as its relicensing.
Without the commitment from Meta, the plant was in danger of closing when its zero-emission credit, which it’s relied on since 2017, expired.
Urvi Parekh, head of global energy at Meta says, "One of the things that we hear very acutely from utilities is they want to have certainty that power plants operating today will continue to operate."
Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation says, "We're definitely having conversations with other clients, not just in Illinois, but really across the country, to step in and do what Meta has done, which is essentially give us a backstop so that we could make the investments needed to re-license these assets and keep them operating."
Bobby Wendell, an official at a unit of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said the agreement will deliver a "stable work environment" for workers at the plant.
The agreement also enables Constellation to increase the capacity of Clinton, currently at 1,121 megawatts, by an additional 30 MW.
The facility supplies power to approximately 800,000 homes across the US.
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Clinton commenced operations in 1987, and last year, Constellation sought approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend its license until 2047.