Fb father or mother Meta needs to search out builders that may present nuclear reactors to assist electrical energy demand from the tech firm’s knowledge facilities and synthetic intelligence (AI) efforts. The group stated the brand new era capability additionally might assist native energy grids.
Meta on Dec. 3 introduced a request for proposals (RFP) “to establish nuclear vitality builders to assist us meet our AI innovation and sustainability targets—concentrating on 1 [to] 4 gigawatts (GW) of recent nuclear era capability within the U.S.”
The corporate stated it needs to have nuclear energy accessible for its use beginning within the early 2030s. Meta stated, “We’re taking an open method with this RFP so we will accomplice with others throughout the trade to convey new nuclear vitality to the grid.”
Nuclear Energy and Extra
A number of expertise corporations, together with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, together with Meta are taking a look at nuclear energy and different era sources to energy their energy-intensive knowledge facilities and AI initiatives. Entergy, a significant southeastern U.S. utility, just lately introduced plans to construct a 1,500-MW pure gas-fired energy plant in Louisiana to assist a Meta knowledge heart there.
Amazon on Dec. 2 printed a doc itemizing seven methods the corporate is taking a look at nuclear energy to assist its operations. The corporate additionally has printed an explainer of its carbon-free vitality tasks that assist its enterprise.
Meta in its RFP wrote, “We’re searching for builders with robust neighborhood engagement, growth, and allowing, and execution experience which have growth alternatives for brand new nuclear vitality sources—both Small Modular Reactors (SMR) or bigger nuclear reactors.”
The corporate additionally wrote, “Supporting the event of fresh vitality should proceed to be a precedence as electrical grids broaden to accommodate rising vitality wants. At Meta, we consider nuclear vitality will play a pivotal function within the transition to a cleaner, extra dependable, and diversified electrical grid,” including, “Our goal is so as to add 1-4 GW of recent nuclear era capability within the U.S. to be delivered beginning within the early 2030s. We want to establish builders that may assist speed up the supply of recent nuclear mills and create ample scale to realize materials value reductions by deploying a number of models, each to supply for Meta’s future vitality wants and to advance broader trade decarbonization.”
Balancing Want for Energy with Sustainability
Balancing trade progress with sustainable vitality initiatives is a specific problem for knowledge heart operators because of the energy-intensive nature of such companies. The necessity for better quantities of electrical energy has led some utilities to say they’ll hold coal-fired models on-line longer than beforehand anticipated to be able to keep away from vitality shortfalls.
Texas-based Vistra has stated it’s taking a look at nuclear energy and pure gas-fired era to assist meet knowledge heart electrical energy demand. Microsoft has stated it needs to restart a reactor on the Three Mile Island web site in Pennsylvania. Amazon earlier this yr acquired a knowledge heart campus subsequent to the Susquehanna nuclear energy plant, additionally in Pennsylvania.
Microsoft in October introduced a $1 billion funding in Ohio for knowledge facilities, simply days after native utility AEP Ohio introduced a tariff fee construction to assist pay for the price of constructing new electrical energy infrastructure for tech corporations.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
