NextEra expands data center plans
In a flurry of announcements this week, NextEra Energy confirmed new deals across the energy sector with Symmetry, Meta, Basin Electric, WPPI Energy, and Google. These deals are primarily focused on enabling more nuclear build-out for the artificial intelligence boom.
Google deal: NextEra is already a close collaborator with Google. The tech giant is funding the restart work at the utility’s Duane Arnold nuclear power plant via a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA). Google plans to use that power for its growing data center infrastructure in Iowa.
On Monday, NextEra announced a “significant expansion” of its collaboration with Google Cloud. Together, the companies plan to jointly develop multiple new gigawatt-scale data center campuses with accompanying generation and capacity. According to NextEra, the companies are already in the process of developing their first three campuses and are working to identify additional locations.
Aside from new data center plans, there is another important angle to the companies’ new partnership: NextEra will use Google Cloud AI and infrastructure for its “enterprise-wide digital transformation.” On the importance of that work, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said, "By infusing NextEra Energy's deep domain expertise with Google Cloud's AI infrastructure, platform, and models, we can together support the digital future of energy infrastructure."
Broader plans: NextEra also announced a milestone in its collaboration with Meta, stating that the companies have reached approximately 2.5 GW of clean energy contracts through the signing of 11 PPAs, the bulk of which are in the form of nine solar projects across three markets.
Between Google and Meta, NextEra has approximately 6 GW either in operation or contracted.
The company has not directly stated how many of the generation facilities for its Google projects will be gas, nuclear, or renewable. According to E&E News, NextEra CEO John Ketchum said that the data center industry is broadly shifting toward a “BYOG,” or, build-your-own-generation approach to projects.
In its investor presentation, also released Monday, NextEra stated that “gas-fired generation will play a large role in BYOG.” However, company spokesperson Neil Nissan told E&E that NextEra is committed to an “all-of-the-above” strategy of building renewables, gas, and nuclear over the next decade. Ketchum highlighted the company’s collaboration with Google on Duane Arnold as a key example of the movement toward BYOG.
Other agreements: NextEra also announced that it has renewed its agreement with WPPI Energy—an energy company that serves 51 locally owned utilities in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan—to supply the company with 168 MW from Point Beach nuclear power plant in Two Rivers, Wis. This agreement comes after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued subsequent license renewals in September for both of the reactors at the site.
The remaining two agreements announced by NextEra both focused on expanding its natural gas portfolio. With Basin Electric Power Cooperative, the company signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the joint development of a new natural gas–fueled generation facility in North Dakota that would serve as the foundation for a multi-gigawatt data center campus. Finally, the company announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Symmetry Energy Solutions, a leading natural gas supplier in the U.S.
