Tech giant Meta announced a deal on Tuesday to purchase more than a thousand megawatts of nuclear power from Constellation Energy over the next 20 years, deepening its investment in the power source to advance its artificial intelligence ambitions.
Meta plans to purchase 1,121 megawatts of nuclear energy from the Clinton Clean Energy Center in central Illinois to support the company’s operations in the region, as AI and data center development continue to fuel growing energy demand.
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The purchase agreement is set to go into effect in June 2027, pending a key approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The nuclear plant’s current operating license expires in April 2027, though Constellation Energy applied for a 20-year extension last year.
The parent company of Facebook indicated that part of the agreement aims to support Constellation Energy’s application for the relicensing, ensuring critical long-term investment to keep the power plant open.
“As we have embarked on understanding and helping to grow nuclear energy in the U.S., we have heard from across the ecosystem that existing nuclear power plants will not be able to stay online indefinitely without partners and investments that help extend existing operating licenses and increase generation capacity,” Meta said in a statement.
“It’s clear that there are many nuclear power plants serving the U.S. that need long-term support to help our electricity grids remain reliable as energy needs grow,” it said.
While Meta is expected to purchase the plant’s entire power output, the energy produced is not set to power the company’s data centers directly.
The plant will continue to send power directly to the local grid. Meta’s investment will contribute to the company’s goals of matching 100% of its electricity use with clean and renewable energy.
“We are proud to partner with Meta because they asked that important question, and even better, they figured out that supporting the relicensing and expansion of existing plants is just as impactful as finding new sources of energy,” Constellation Energy CEO and president Joe Dominguez said in a statement. “Sometimes the most important part of our journey forward is to stop taking steps backwards.”
Constellation Energy is looking to keep the Clinton Clean Energy Center open until at least 2047, helping the state of Illinois reach its goal of having 100% of its energy come from clean sources by 2050.
The financial details of the purchase agreement have not been publicly released, though it is estimated to preserve more than 1,000 jobs, generate $13.5 million in annual tax revenue, and add $1 million in charitable giving to local nonprofit organizations.
Under the deal, Constellation Energy will invest in upgrading the nuclear plant to increase its output by at least 30 megawatts to the local grid.
The company is also planning to seek approval from the NRC to build a small modular reactor or an advanced nuclear reactor on the same site as the larger plant.
Meta has been a vocal proponent of nuclear energy for months, joining several other major tech companies in a pledge to triple nuclear power capacity worldwide by 2050.
Big Tech has turned to nuclear energy to meet growing energy demand, driven in a large part by advancements in AI and data center building, while also meeting clean-energy and emissions reduction goals.
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In December last year, Meta announced that it is looking to add between 1 and 4 gigawatts of nuclear generation capacity within the U.S., delivering the power in the early 2030s.
It is currently in final discussions with a short list of projects that could help meet those new generation goals.