In the ensuing decade, the acquisitions will bring 6.6 gigawatts of power online, which will be used to power artificial intelligence data centres.
As well as the Prometheus supercluster, which is a data centre with a capacity of one gigawatt and is now under construction in Ohio, Meta has announced three new deals to procure nuclear electricity for its artificial intelligence infrastructure. A partnership between the social media giant and the power companies Vistra, TerraPower, and Oklo is being formed with the intention of delivering an estimated 6.6 gigawatts of generation to its projects by the year 2035.
In accordance with the agreement that the business has reached with TerraPower, the development of two additional reactors that are capable of delivering up to 690 megawatts of power will begin as early as 2032. Moreover, the agreement grants Meta the right to obtain energy from six additional reactors, which have the potential to provide an extra 2.1 gigawatts by the year 2035. TerraPower's "Natrium" reactors, which employ sodium rather than water as a coolant, would be the source of all of this power.
It is anticipated that 1.2 gigawatts of nuclear power will be operational by the year 2030, thanks to a partnership with Oklo. According to Meta, the deal paves the way for the building of several Oklo reactors, which will, according to the company, result in the creation of thousands of employment in Ohio, both in the construction and long-term operations sectors. In addition to being one of Oklo's top investors, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also owns a little more than four percent of the company.
It is the goal of the agreement between Meta and Vistra to keep existing nuclear facilities operational for longer periods of time and to increase their output. Meta will purchase more than 2.1 gigawatts of power from some of Vistra's current plants in Ohio through new 20-year partnerships. In addition, Meta will support the expansion of capacity at those plants as well as another plant in Pennsylvania via these new agreements. The additional capacity, which would amount to 433 megawatts, is anticipated to be brought online by Vistra in the early 2030s.
Big tech is increasingly relying on nuclear power to power its dreams of artificial intelligence. In 2017, Meta entered into a nuclear power agreement with Constellation Energy that was for a period of twenty years. During this time, Microsoft is reopening the historically significant Three Mile Island plant, and as part of a twenty-year agreement, they will be the plant's only customer.
