Google, Microsoft, Amazon turn to nuclear, geothermal energy to power operations

Google, which has set a target of 24/7 clean power by 2030, said it needs to procure green energy to meet its electricity requirements.

Google, Microsoft and Amazon are increasingly looking at nuclear and geothermal energy sources to power their daily needs, which will help decarbonise their operations.

The firms believe they need a broader portfolio of clean energy technologies and wind and solar power sources may not be enough on their own.

The Sundar Pichai- and Satya Nadella-led firms announced an agreement with Nucor Corporation last week that will see the firms help aggregate demand for advanced clean energy technologies and accelerate their commercialisation to make it available for all energy consumers.

The deal will also help the tech majors in reaching their goal of carbon-free power. Google, which has set a target of 24/7 clean power by 2030, said it needs to procure green energy to meet its electricity requirements. In 2022, the company had reached 64% carbon-free energy globally on an hourly-basis.

“While wind and solar technologies play a significant role in our efforts today, we will need a broader portfolio of advanced clean electricity technologies — such as next-generation geothermal, advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen and long-duration energy storage — to enable us to fully decarbonise our energy consumption,” Google said in a statement.

“Firm, dispatchable clean electricity technologies and advanced energy storage systems are needed to cost-effectively decarbonize grids and help the world meet its growing electricity demand with carbon-free energy sources," according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

These advanced clean electricity technologies can fill gaps in wind and solar production and support grid reliability – needs that today are still being met by fossil fuel generation, the agency further said.

The rise in artificial intelligence mania is also contributing to the rise in electricity consumption. According to IEA, the data centers and the networks supporting them account for 2-3 per cent of annual global power consumption. Generative AI eats up a huge amount of processing power, which could lead to the electricity demand tripling by 2030, said a report by Boston Consulting Group.

However, challenges remain for these advanced technologies. The lack of awareness and the risk of early projects are some of the stumbling blocks for these technologies. These challenges can be beaten by aggregating demand and building new commercial structures, which can reduce the risks and enable further investments. These initiatives can push these technologies go online by 2030s and ultimately bring the costs down for higher adoption.

Meanwhile, Amazon, early this month, had announced that it is adding a nuclear-powered datacenter campus in a $650 million deal with Talen Energy, who is an owner and operator of electricity generation and transmission facilities in the US.

The deal will see Amazon Web Services (AWS) take control of Talen-built datacenter complex Cumulus, which is near its 2.5 gigwatt Susquehanna nuclear power plant in northeast Pennsylvania.

The datacenter complex opened in 2023 and had a capacity of 48 MW. Upon completion, it is expected to hit a capacity of 475 MW and could go higher under Amazon’s ownership.