Meta, the parent company of Facebook, which has invested heavily in AI infrastructure over the past two years, recently signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Constellation Energy, the largest emission-free energy provider in the U.S. The agreement stipulates that the Clinton Clean Energy Center, owned by Constellation Energy, will supply electricity to Meta.

Interestingly, the Clinton Clean Energy Center was once one of the most efficient nuclear power plants in Illinois. However, after years of financial losses, it was scheduled for early closure in 2017 but was saved by the Future Energy Jobs Act, which established the Zero Emission Credit (ZEC) program to provide funding support until mid-2027.

By signing this 20-year power supply agreement, Meta essentially replaces the ZEC program, ensuring the plant's market entry through power purchases rather than relying on government financial support.

However, this PPA does not mean the Clinton Clean Energy Center will directly supply power to Meta's data centers. Instead, the center will continue to feed electricity into the local grid, while Meta will purchase approximately 1.1 gigawatts of energy from the center starting June 2027, equivalent to the full output of one of the plant's nuclear reactors.

Under the agreement, the Clinton Nuclear Plant will increase its capacity by 30 megawatts through nuclear upgrades, enabling it to inject more renewable energy into the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) Region 4 grid, which covers central and southern Illinois.

Constellation Energy is evaluating strategies to extend the plant's existing early site permit or apply for a new construction permit from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to advance the development of advanced nuclear reactors or small modular reactors (SMRs) at the Clinton Clean Energy Center site.

While Meta appears to be the 'white knight' saving the Clinton Clean Energy Center from closure, it is also securing its own future. Meta's massive investments in data centers, which are critical for its AI competitiveness over the next decade, require sustainable energy support due to the enormous power demands of AI. By signing this power supply agreement with a nuclear energy company, Meta ensures stable energy supply for the next 20 years to support continuous AI development.

Tech Giants Are Also Expanding into Energy

Beyond Meta's partnership with Constellation Energy, several tech giants are diversifying their energy portfolios to pave the way for AI development:

$Microsoft(MSFT.US) has been active in nuclear energy, signing an agreement in 2023 with Helion Energy, a nuclear fusion startup backed by OpenAI founder Sam Altman, to purchase 50 megawatts of power starting in 2028. In September 2024, Microsoft reached a deal with Constellation Energy to restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania, the site of the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history, and signed a 20-year PPA to support its data centers. Microsoft has also hired a nuclear technology director to explore small modular reactor (SMR) applications.

$Alphabet - C(GOOG.US) announced in October 2024 a partnership with SMR startup Kairos Power to fund the development of seven SMRs to provide stable power for its data centers. Prior to this, Google invested in nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies and joined an industry initiative to triple global nuclear energy capacity.

$Oracle(ORCL.US) Chairman Larry Ellison announced plans to deploy three small nuclear reactors at a new data center, with a total power supply capacity exceeding 1 gigawatt, to meet AI computing demands. The project has selected a site and obtained permits, making it the first U.S. nuclear project explicitly targeting AI.

$Amazon(AMZN.US) acquired a data center campus powered by the Susquehanna nuclear plant from Talen Energy in 2024 and invested $500 million in SMR development.

Tech giants aiming to win in the AI race have long viewed energy as a critical foundation for AI development. Beyond nuclear energy, they are also investing in other renewable energy sectors and exploring ways to improve energy efficiency.

For example, in May last year, Microsoft signed the largest corporate-level renewable energy agreement with Brookfield Asset Management, investing over $10 billion to develop 10.5 gigawatts of renewable energy, focusing on wind and solar power while exploring new carbon-free technologies.

Google signed a 60-megawatt solar PPA in Japan.

In terms of energy efficiency, these tech giants are also making strides.

$Tesla(TSLA.US) is aggressively expanding its energy storage business. Its Shanghai Megafactory began production in February this year, with an annual capacity of 10,000 Megapack energy storage systems, totaling nearly 40 gigawatt-hours—equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 13,000 households.

AI component suppliers like NVIDIA (NVDA.US), AMD (AMD.US), and Intel (INTC.US) are improving the energy efficiency of their AI chips. For instance, NVIDIA's Blackwell GPU offers 25 times better energy efficiency than its predecessor, reducing AI computing power consumption at the hardware level.

Conclusion

From Meta's 'white knight' role in saving a nuclear plant to the diversified energy strategies of tech giants in nuclear, renewable energy, storage, and chip efficiency, it's clear that the underlying logic of the AI revolution has expanded from pure algorithm competition to a full-chain infrastructure battle encompassing 'energy-computing power.'

Whoever masters clean, stable, and low-cost energy will gain an edge in large-scale model training, computing power competition, and ecosystem building. Meta's 'white knight' story is just one example; the tech industry's shift toward 'energy infrastructure' may become inevitable.

Author: Mao Ting