Talen Energy and Amazon Sign Nuclear Power Deal To Fuel Data Centers 16
Amazon Web Services has signed a long-term deal with Talen Energy to receive up to 1,920 megawatts of carbon-free electricity from the Susquehanna nuclear plant through 2042 to support AWS's AI and cloud operations. The partnership also includes plans to explore new Small Modular Reactors and expand nuclear capacity amid rising U.S. energy demand. Utility Drive reports: Under the PPA, Talen's existing 300-MW co-location arrangement with AWS will shift to a "front of the meter" framework that doesn't require Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval, according to Houston-based Talen. The company expects the transition will occur next spring after transmission upgrades are finished. FERC in November rejected an amended interconnection service agreement that would have facilitated expanded power sales to a co-located AWS data center at the Susquehanna plant. The agency is considering potential rules for co-located loads in PJM.
Talen expects to earn about $18 billion in revenue over the life of the contract at its full quantity, according to an investor presentation. The contract, which runs through 2042, calls for delivering 840 MW to 1,200 MW in 2029 and 1,680 MW to 1,920 MW in 2032. Talen will act as the retail power supplier to AWS, and PPL Electric Utilities will be responsible for transmission and delivery, the company said. Amazon on Monday said it plans to spend about $20 billion building data centers in Pennsylvania.
"We are making the largest private sector investment in state history -- $20 billion-- to bring 1,250 high-skilled jobs and economic benefits to the state, while also collaborating with Talen Energy to help power our infrastructure with carbon-free energy," Kevin Miller, AWS vice president of global data centers, said.
Talen expects to earn about $18 billion in revenue over the life of the contract at its full quantity, according to an investor presentation. The contract, which runs through 2042, calls for delivering 840 MW to 1,200 MW in 2029 and 1,680 MW to 1,920 MW in 2032. Talen will act as the retail power supplier to AWS, and PPL Electric Utilities will be responsible for transmission and delivery, the company said. Amazon on Monday said it plans to spend about $20 billion building data centers in Pennsylvania.
"We are making the largest private sector investment in state history -- $20 billion-- to bring 1,250 high-skilled jobs and economic benefits to the state, while also collaborating with Talen Energy to help power our infrastructure with carbon-free energy," Kevin Miller, AWS vice president of global data centers, said.
above 1.21 gigawatts (Score:1)
That is well above the 1.21 gigawatts required for time travel.
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You know I could almost see Bezos heading up on a one of those big dicks and meeting
But "nobody wants nukes", right? (Score:2)
I'm noticing a trend on Slashdot of companies that are building data centers making long term arrangements with nuclear power plants for electrical power. Then will come those that claim "nobody wants nukes" because nuclear power is too expensive, takes too long to build, is not safe, or some other bullshit.
The issue seems pretty clear to me. Data centers need reliable supplies of electrical power, and so are willing to pay whatever it takes to get that reliable electrical power. These nuclear power plan
Re:But "nobody wants nukes", right? (Score:5, Insightful)
They aren't building anything new here. This has Amazon paying the maintenance, and reactivation, of an existing plant. Presumably this is not a great financial deal for Amazon but it does get a zero carbon tick and also gets more electricity that otherwise would've been mothballed.
It's really just about fast increases in supply of more electricity. The race for deploying AI servers is perceived as critical to these companies. If they had the option they'd all vote to instantly double the world's wattage - and take it all for those servers.
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It's also a very nice PR beard.
I would love to see how the energy produced by a reactor in Susquehanna does fuck-all to power the huge datacenters that make up US-West-2 in Boardman, Oregon. They aren't even on the same grid.
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Here's what I'm expecting. Bombs.
After 9/11 a review of nuclear sites showed that an airplane (or bomb/drone) would not penetrate the containment concrete (although it might scratch the surface).
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Do you have a point to make?
Nuclear+SV Bros (Score:1)
When someone screws up in the nuclear world, a patch of the planet gets rendered uninhabitable for 10,000+ years and the entire human population gets a dose of
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You only had to read the first sentence.