Meta Signs Deals With Three Nuclear Companies For 6+ GW of Power
(Saturday January 10, 2026 @05:00AM (BeauHD)
from the power-unlock dept.)
- Reference: 0180556444
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/01/09/2329256/meta-signs-deals-with-three-nuclear-companies-for-6-gw-of-power
- Source link:
Meta has [1]signed long-term nuclear power deals [2]totaling more than 6 gigawatts to fuel its data centers : "one from a startup, one from a smaller energy company, and one from a larger company that already operates several nuclear reactors in the U.S," reports TechCrunch. From the report:
> Oklo and TerraPower, two companies developing small modular reactors (SMR), each signed agreements with Meta to build multiple reactors, while Vistra is selling capacity from its existing power plants. [...] The deals are the result of a request for proposals that Meta issued in December 2024, in which Meta sought partners that could add between 1 to 4 gigawatts of generating capacity by the early 2030s. Much of the new power will flow through the PJM interconnection, a grid which covers 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and has become saturated with data centers.
>
> The 20-year agreement with Vistra will have the most immediate impact on Meta's energy needs. The tech company will buy a total of 2.1 gigawatts from two existing nuclear power plants, Perry and Davis-Besse in Ohio. As part of the deal, Vistra will also add capacity to those power plants and to its Beaver Valley power plant in Pennsylvania. Together, the upgrades will generate an additional 433 MW and are scheduled to come online in the early 2030s.
>
> Meta is also buying 1.2 gigawatts from young provider Oklo. Under its deal with Meta, Oklo is hoping to start supplying power to the grid as early as 2030. The SMR company went public via SPAC in 2023, and while Oklo has landed a large deal with data center operator Switch, it has struggled to get its reactor design approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. If Oklo can deliver on its timeline, the new reactors would be built in Pike County, Ohio. The startup's Aurora Powerhouse reactors each produce 75 megawatts of electricity, and it will need to build more than a dozen to fulfill Meta's order. TerraPower is a startup co-founded by Bill Gates, and it is aiming to start sending electricity to Meta as early as 2032.
[1] https://about.fb.com/news/2026/01/meta-nuclear-energy-projects-power-american-ai-leadership/
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/09/meta-signs-deals-with-three-nuclear-companies-for-6-plus-gw-of-power/
> Oklo and TerraPower, two companies developing small modular reactors (SMR), each signed agreements with Meta to build multiple reactors, while Vistra is selling capacity from its existing power plants. [...] The deals are the result of a request for proposals that Meta issued in December 2024, in which Meta sought partners that could add between 1 to 4 gigawatts of generating capacity by the early 2030s. Much of the new power will flow through the PJM interconnection, a grid which covers 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and has become saturated with data centers.
>
> The 20-year agreement with Vistra will have the most immediate impact on Meta's energy needs. The tech company will buy a total of 2.1 gigawatts from two existing nuclear power plants, Perry and Davis-Besse in Ohio. As part of the deal, Vistra will also add capacity to those power plants and to its Beaver Valley power plant in Pennsylvania. Together, the upgrades will generate an additional 433 MW and are scheduled to come online in the early 2030s.
>
> Meta is also buying 1.2 gigawatts from young provider Oklo. Under its deal with Meta, Oklo is hoping to start supplying power to the grid as early as 2030. The SMR company went public via SPAC in 2023, and while Oklo has landed a large deal with data center operator Switch, it has struggled to get its reactor design approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. If Oklo can deliver on its timeline, the new reactors would be built in Pike County, Ohio. The startup's Aurora Powerhouse reactors each produce 75 megawatts of electricity, and it will need to build more than a dozen to fulfill Meta's order. TerraPower is a startup co-founded by Bill Gates, and it is aiming to start sending electricity to Meta as early as 2032.
[1] https://about.fb.com/news/2026/01/meta-nuclear-energy-projects-power-american-ai-leadership/
[2] https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/09/meta-signs-deals-with-three-nuclear-companies-for-6-plus-gw-of-power/
6 GW ?!? (Score:3)
by LordHighExecutioner ( 4245243 )
Aren't [1]1.21 Gigowatt [youtube.com] enough ?!?
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDuZqYeNiOA
Re: (Score:2)
by Randseed ( 132501 )
[1]https://youtu.be/etGAMudQl8Q [youtu.be]
[1] https://youtu.be/etGAMudQl8Q
Alternative headline (Score:5, Informative)
by greytree ( 7124971 )
Electricity meant for 6,000,000 homes to be used by billionaire chasing IQ asymptote.
Re: (Score:1)
by greytree ( 7124971 )
Erm 6,000 homes. Sorry.
Re: (Score:1)
by greytree ( 7124971 )
F&*k. I was right the first time.
Shall I come in again ?
Re: (Score:3)
by Admiral Krunch ( 6177530 )
> F&*k. I was right the first time.
> Shall I come in again ?
Should have asked AI to proofread
great (Score:3)
by fluffernutter ( 1411889 )
Now electricity is only for the wealthy.
Too bad... (Score:2)
nobody bet on these numbers before... how long before it gets to GW scale data centers?
From Google:
"Data centers globally consumed approximately 415 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2024, accounting for about 1.5% of total world electricity demand, with projections indicating significant growth in the coming years.
Current Consumption Statistics
Global Usage: In 2024, data centers (excluding cryptocurrency mining) used an estimated 415 TWh of electricity, which has roughly doubled since 2010. This incre
Re: Too bad... (Score:1)
Are you aware that the US currently produces 10% more electricity than it consumes (according to eia.gov Energy Facts page), even after the data center usage?
Re: (Score:3)
Are you aware that electricity needs to be transported from where it's produced to where it's used? That some surplus here and there all over the US is summed up to 10% just means it can't be meaningfully used.
Re: Too bad... (Score:1)
Why is it that if you look at Sankey energy flow diagrams for each state (on llnl.gov), you ses that each state produces around the same amount of rejected electrical energy (about 60%) no matter if it is primarily hydro- or fossil-fuel-generated, which is far less efficient than hydropower or natural gas plants should be?
Is it wrong to interpret that data as representing a pervasive energy surplus, everywhere?
When you hear power lines humming, is it misinformation to say demand is less than supply and the
Re: (Score:2)
> Are you aware that the US currently produces 10% more electricity than it consumes (according to eia.gov Energy Facts page), even after the data center usage?
There's no such thing as producing more energy than it consumes. It doesn't just poof away into the air. Those 10% are accounted for by dispatchable demand, e.g. the USA runs dispatchable LNG liquification facilities which they then export to other countries. Congrats man, because of Meta your bills will go up. Energy companies aren't going to sit around with their thumbs up their asses and stop exporting, not without either billing the tax payer to build that 10% excess back in, or billing American custome