Mentioned:
Meta Platforms is making their first big bet on nuclear energy. But, is it just the very beginning?
What’s happening:
- Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has entered into a new deal with Constellation Energy (NASDAQ: CEG) to purchase nuclear power from Constellation Energy’s Clinton Clean Energy Centre located in Illinois
By the numbers:
- The deal between Meta Platforms and Constellation Energy will span over 20 years
- Constellation Energy will provide Meta Platforms with the full output of the sole reactor at the Clinton Clean Energy Centre, which has the capability to generate approximately 1.1 gigawatts of electricity
Why it matters:
- This is the first major nuclear energy deal Meta Platforms has ever entered in to in the history of the company
Going deeper:
- Big technology companies have been continuing to embrace nuclear energy infrastructure, which has been largely fuelled by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) previously purchasing a data centre campus in Pennsylvania that is powered by the Susquehanna nuclear power plant and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) partnering up with Constellation Energy to restart the historic Three Mile Island nuclear power plant
- Meta Platforms has been aggressively pursuing new clean energy sources to power their large scale data centres, including previously partnering with Houston startup Sage Geosystems to leverage geothermal energy to provide low carbon electricity to their data centres
The intrigue:
- The United States government has also been rolling out new ambitious policy changes aimed at accelerating the build out of nuclear energy infrastructure, including President Donald Trump just recently signing four different executive orders aimed at expanding small modular reactor deployment and domestic uranium mining
