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NextEra Energy Inc. plans to restart a nuclear power plant in Iowa, primarily to supply Google data centers.
The Duane Arnold Energy Center is expected to start delivering power by 2029 following agreements with Google, according to a statement Monday. The 615-megawatt plant shut down in 2020, well before the AI boom that’s stoked demand for new power sources.
The enormous electricity demands of data centers have shaken up the energy industry, with tech companies rushing to connect massive facilities to the power grid. Hyperscalers prize nuclear energy for its ability to provide clean round-the-clock power.
But building new nuclear reactors takes several years. Reviving mothballed facilities is expected to be a faster solution, though only a handful appear viable for a return.
“The speed with which this deal appears to have come together is further evidence of strong demand for power, particularly with baseload and zero emitting characteristics,” Sophie Karp, an analyst with KeyBanc Capital Markets, wrote in a research note.
Constellation Energy Corp. is working to bring one of the reactors at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania back into service by 2027. Holtec International plans to restart the Palisades plant in Michigan by early next year. Meanwhile, South Carolina utility Santee Cooper said last week it’s talking to Brookfield Asset Management about finishing the partially built VC Summer project that was abandoned in 2017 as costs spiraled.
NextEra agreed to sell Google electricity from Duane Arnold for 25 years. NextEra is also buying out the plant’s minority owners, Central Iowa Power Cooperative and Corn Belt Power Cooperative, and will sell the remaining electricity from the plant to CIPCO on the same terms Google receives.
Google and NextEra also signed an agreement to explore development of new nuclear generation. NextEra now has almost three gigawatts of energy projects completed with Google across the US. NextEra gained as much as 3.5% after the close of regular trading in New York.
(Updates with analyst’s comment in fifth paragraph; share-price increase in final paragraph.)
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