Google has just achieved a volume of electricity in the United States in line with its ambitions in terms of artificial intelligence. The group has closed an agreement with Constellation Energy that covers a total of 3,590 MW capacity in the area covered by the PJM network administrator. The contract is not simply about reserving the production already available: 890 MW must come from power increases in eleven nuclear reactors located in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The first additional megawatts are expected in 2028.
This operation illustrates the changing scale of the data center industry. Google is no longer betting only on renewable energy contracts or future small experimental reactors. Here begins a twenty-year relationship with a consolidated nuclear operator, accompanied by more than $4.3 billion in investments announced by Constellation.
A 3.59 GW contract, of which 890 MW are really new
The agreement is divided into two parts. The first is a twenty-year power purchase agreement intended to finance upgrades at eleven nuclear units. Constellation plans to replace or optimize certain thermal and electrical equipment to increase its efficiency. The company believes that this work will bring 890 MW of new capacity on the PJM networkor the equivalent of the power of several medium-sized gas power plants, without building eleven new reactors.
The second part covers an additional 2,700 MW over fifteen years. This electricity will come from Constellation’s existing fleet in the same region. Added together, the two commitments reach 3.59 GW, although only part corresponds to a net increase in production. This nuance is important: Google does not instantly create 3.59 GW of electricity supply, but it guarantees long-term income that should keep the units in service and allow their modernization.
The energy group also claims to obtain significant economic benefits: around 4,400 jobs and 7,200 jobs linked to construction works are preserved. These are company estimates, not an independent evaluation. However, they give an idea of the industrial scale of the program. We had already mentioned TerraPower’s commitment to strengthening data centers; This new agreement builds on already connected commercial power plants.
AI pushes Google to think like an energy manufacturer
AI models and the infrastructure that trains them impose a continuous load, very different from variable residential consumption. For a cloud operator, controllable production available day and night complements solar and wind contracts, whose power depends on weather conditions. Nuclear energy responds to this search for stability, but it does not by itself solve the limitations of transportation: electricity must be available in the right place and at the right time in a network that is already under stress.
PJM serves approximately 67 million people in thirteen states and the District of Columbia. Increasing data center needs are causing delays in connecting and building new capacity. According to Reuters, the price of network capacity has increased approximately eleven-fold since 2024. Google and Constellation present their agreement as a “Bring Your Own Power” response: the large consumer directly supports the addition of supply instead of relying solely on the market.
Caution remains necessary. An increase in nuclear energy requires works, authorizations and technical execution without delay. The first improvements will not be announced until 2028, while demand linked to AI is already growing. Therefore, the strategy does not exempt Google from investing in the efficiency of its servers, the temporary displacement of certain loads or deletion when the network is saturated. Constellation plans to explore mechanisms to modulate consumption with the group.
One more sign for the return of nuclear energy to technology
The contract is part of a broader trend: digital giants are seeking to secure volumes of low-carbon electricity in horizons previously associated with heavy industries. This race also explains why Google is investing massively in its European data centers. At the same time, it fuels the debate over the consumption of digital infrastructure, for which demand for US electricity could increase significantly between now and 2035.
Google and Constellation are finally expanding their cooperation to the cloud and artificial intelligence to optimize energy use. This part remains more promotional and its benefits have not yet been quantified. The verifiable heart of the announcement lies elsewhere: a technology buyer agrees to commit for fifteen or twenty years to support a controllable capability. If the additional 890 MW actually reaches the grid, the deal will become a concrete case of financing nuclear modernization through data center demand, and not a simple promise around a future reactor.
