Meta, parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said in a company blog post that it is seeking proposals from nuclear power developers to support its artificial intelligence (AI) and environment goals. Meta is seeking to add 1-4 GWe of new US nuclear generation capacity in the early 2030s.
“We believe that nuclear energy can help provide firm, baseload power to support the growth needs of the electric grids that power both our data centres (the physical infrastructure on which Meta’s platforms operate) as well as the communities around them,” Meta, said. The company is seeking developers with expertise in community engagement, development and permitting, and would consider either small modular reactors (SMRs) or larger nuclear reactors.
Meta said it was using the request-for-proposal process because, compared with renewable energy projects such as solar and wind, nuclear is more capital-intensive, takes longer to develop, and is subject to more regulatory requirements. “These differences mean we need to engage nuclear energy projects earlier in their development lifecycle and consider their operational requirements when designing a contract. And, as scaling deployments of nuclear technology offers the best chance of rapidly reducing cost, engaging with a partner across projects and locations will allow us to ensure that we can deploy strategically.”
An RFP process “will allow us to approach these projects thoroughly and thoughtfully with these considerations in mind”. Meta will take submissions from potential developers until 7 February 2025. “We are taking an open approach with this RFP so we can partner with others across the industry to bring new nuclear energy to the grid,” the company said. “At Meta, we believe nuclear energy will play a pivotal role in the transition to a cleaner, more reliable, and diversified electric grid.”
Meta said it is looking to identify developers that can help accelerate the availability of new nuclear generators and create sufficient scale to achieve material cost reductions by deploying multiple units, both to provide for Meta’s future energy needs and to advance broader industry decarbonisation. “We believe working with partners who will ultimately permit, design, engineer, finance, construct, and operate these power plants will ensure the long-term thinking necessary to accelerate nuclear technology.”
Since 2020, Meta says it has matched its global operations with 100% clean and renewable energy and focused on bringing new resources to the grid through innovative partnerships – totalling over 12,000 MW of renewable energy contracts worldwide to date. “Going forward, this commitment is more important than ever to support our vision of operating sustainably. As our sector continues to grow, we are committed to working across the industry to advance our sustainability commitments and transform the grid of the future.”
Axios cited Meta’s head of global energy, Urvi Parekh, as saying the company is seeking parties “who are going to be there from the beginning to the end of a project”, from finding real estate to permitting to design, construction finance, operation and more. “We want to partner with those people today so that they can have the certainty that we’re going to be there and that we can work with them to try to optimise this cycle, to make it scale faster,” she said.
Meta is open to cost-sharing early in the development cycle, in addition to purchasing power when projects are online, Parekh noted. “We want to be really open to creative solutions,” she added. Meta is hopeful that their approach can help overcome industry “hesitancy” to deploy capital needed for that much development.
Meta follows other major tech companies that are looking to nuclear. Google announced in October it planned to purchase nuclear energy from California-based Kairos Power that is developing SMRs. Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced a deal in September to restart a unit at the Three Mile Island NPP in Pennsylvania to support a data centre. This came after Amazon in March purchased a nuclear-powered data centre from Talen Energy.
