Amazon.com walked away last month from plans to build a data-center campus next to a nuclear plant in Maryland after facing community opposition. Instead, the tech giant will help expand power generation at the plant and explore the possibility of adding new reactors there.
Amazon has signed an agreement with Constellation Energy to help upgrade the Calvert Cliffs Clean Energy Center, a nuclear site on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, by adding 190 megawatts of power that will feed back into the regional grid. That is enough to power about 147,000 new homes. In return, Constellation will supply the tech company with up to 690 megawatts of power long term from across its fleet.
Amazon and other big tech companies are racing to secure energy for newly built data centers that will power AI and can guzzle as much electricity as a midsize city. Nuclear energy is considered an attractive option because it provides reliable, carbon-free electricity around the clock. The deal with Constellation is Amazon’s first “uprate project,” one that increases the power output of an existing nuclear plant.
“Bringing net new capacity into that market makes sense—bringing net new carbon-free capacity makes even more sense,” said Brandon Oyer, a nuclear engineer who is head of Americas power and water at Amazon. The 20-year agreement will help extend operations at the plant, where one reactor is up for re-licensing in 2034 and another in 2036, said David Dardis, senior executive vice president at Constellation.
Source: Wall Street Journal US Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing