Tech firm Amazon just lately signed a cope with Talen Power, an influence infrastructure and supplier firm, for 1,920 megawatts (MW) of nuclear vitality to gasoline Amazon Net servers and AI knowledge facilities in Pennsylvania by means of the yr 2042.
In response to an announcement from Talen, the vitality shall be produced on the firm’s Susquehanna nuclear facility and supply energy to Amazon services within the area, with extra plans to discover small-modular nuclear reactor (SMR) expertise.
The vitality shall be provided by means of the grid somewhat than straight from the nuclear plant as initially deliberate. This association will assist help the vitality grid’s upkeep by means of service charges paid by Amazon.
Beneath the settlement, PPL Electrical Utilities, an vitality transmission firm, shall be chargeable for delivering the facility to Amazon. Christine Martin, president of PPL Electrical Utilities, mentioned:
“Connecting massive load clients like knowledge facilities to our transmission system helps decrease the transmission part of vitality payments for all clients, as massive load clients pay important transmission expenses on our community.”
The transfer displays the rising want for high-energy output infrastructure to energy synthetic intelligence and high-performance computing knowledge facilities as AI growth turns into a key precedence for world leaders.
Associated: Amazon doubles down on AI with $20B Pennsylvania funding
Tech giants flip to nuclear energy to fund AI ambitions
In September 2024, tech firm Microsoft signed a cope with Constellation Power Company to re-open the Three-Mile Island nuclear website and supply energy to its AI knowledge facilities.
The 20-year deal included 835 megawatts of nuclear energy delivered to the tech firm, with the aim of bringing the ability on-line by 2028.
Extra just lately, on June 3, social media and tech company Meta agreed to buy 1.1 gigawatts of nuclear energy from Constellation over 20 years to energy AI services.
The shift towards nuclear vitality technology has acquired help from a number of US lawmakers and political leaders, who urge innovation on the AI entrance to keep away from falling behind worldwide rivals.
United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced calls to dedicate extra assets to nuclear energy manufacturing to fulfill the calls for of AI, cryptocurrency mining, and different high-performance computing functions.
Journal: The blockchain tasks making renewable vitality a actuality