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Diving brief:
- Meta wants nuclear power developers to submit proposals for new production capacity to help it “achieve our AI innovation and sustainability goals.” the company said Tuesday.
- It is request for proposals seeks to deliver 1 GW to 4 GW of new nuclear capacity starting in the early 2030s from developers able to build multiple units to reduce unit costs, the company said. Initial proposals are due February 7.
- Meta expects the nuclear projects identified in the bidding process to support its broader data center portfolio, rather than serving specific locations, a Meta spokesperson told Utility Dive.
Dive overview:
Meta is “taking an open approach with this RFP so we can partner with others in the industry to bring new nuclear power to the grid,” it said in a blog post published Tuesday .
The Facebook and Instagram parent company is open to large- and small-scale modular reactor proposals and is not targeting a specific number of partners at this time, the spokesperson said. The company is looking for companies that can deploy new reactors safely in an accelerated timeframe and work with Meta over the long term to operate the plants reliably and economically, they said.
Partners must have experience in developing and constructing complex infrastructure projects, the spokesperson added.
“Compared to the renewable energy projects we continue to invest in, such as solar and wind, nuclear energy projects require more capital, take longer to develop, are subject to more regulatory requirements and have a longer expected operational life,” Meta said. in the blog post. “These differences mean we need to engage nuclear power projects earlier in their development cycle and consider their operational requirements when designing a contract.”
Meta has contracted more than 12 GW of renewable energy globally and has “matched our global operations with 100% clean, renewable energy” since 2020, it said. More recently, the company has also sought to source more “clean” energy announcement in August a partnership with Sage Geosystems to provide up to 150 MW of geothermal energy to its data centers from 2027.
Meta’s nuclear tender follows a series of nuclear-related announcements from major technology companies this fall.
In September, Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced a 20-year power purchase agreement This would support the reopening of the idle 835 MW Crane Clean Energy Center reactor, formerly known as Three Mile Island Unit 1, in 2027 or 2028.
In October, Google and Kairos Power announced an agreement build and operate a fleet of 500 MW advanced small reactors by 2035, with the first to be commissioned in 2030. Kairos plans to commission the first of these reactors. two low power test reactors it is under construction in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 2027.
Also in October, Amazon revealed a $500 million investment in X-energyan SMR developer, as part of a longer-term partnership between the two companies aimed at deploying up to 5 GW of new nuclear projects by 2039. The first phase of the partnership would see four Xe-100 SMRs of 80 MW deployed at the Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Washington, with the potential to accommodate up to 12 reactors on site, totaling 960 MW of capacity.
Amazon could separately deploy an SMR with at least 300 MW of generating capacity near Dominion Energy’s North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia through a memorandum of understanding with the utility owned by the investor.