As of October 1, 2024, nuclear power plants have increasingly been signing agreements to power data centers, according to the EIA. [1] In September 2024, Constellation Energy announced a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to power a Microsoft data center in the mid-Atlantic from the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. This is the second occurrence this year of a nuclear power plant owner agreeing to supply a data center with dedicated power as data centers begin to search for large sources of electricity supply. In March 2024, Amazon Web Services (AWS) signed a contract for 960 megawatts (MW) of capacity from Talen Energy’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Both plants belong to PJM transmission. These recent power purchase agreements indicate that data center operators are in search of large sources of emissions-free electricity, yet it is still uncertain how much capacity they will require, how long it will take to reach peak demand, and how energy efficiency will improve over time. This is reflected in the PPA between Talen and AWS because AWS intends to increase its share of capacity in increments over time rather than taking on the full 960 MW immediately.
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