Celebrate Good Times for Nuclear: Meta, Constellation Lead Clinton Revival Rally
Key Highlights
- - Meta's 20-year PPA with Clinton plant secures its operation and supports local employment and economic vitality.
- - The nuclear plant, operational since 1987, boasts an 80% capacity factor, making it a highly reliable, carbon-free energy source.
- - Expansion efforts include adding 30 MW of capacity through nuclear uprate work, ensuring future energy needs are met.
Workers and local supporters of a 1-GW and 38-year-old Illinois nuclear power plant gained a celebratory visit from the digital technology giant whose long-term commitment is helping keep the plant operationally alive for decades to come.
Leaders from Meta Platforms rallied with employees from Clinton Clean Energy Center, local officials from DeWitt County and state leaders earlier this week at the nuclear facility. The rally was held to applaud Meta’s 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) created earlier this summer with Clinton owner Constellation Energy.
The Meta-Constellation PPA revives the future for Clinton Clean Energy Center, which had been targeted for retirement. The financial support from the parent of Facebook also helps with costs of relicensing and expansion of the nuclear reactor facility, which will add another 30 MW of capacity through nuclear uprate work.
Meta is seeking to secure its sustainability goals and match them with the resource resiliency needed to power data center and artificial intelligence (AI) computing growth over the coming decades. Nuclear reactors generate electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions.
"Nuclear energy is a vital component of our strategy to support Meta's AI ambitions. By partnering with Constellation at the Clinton Clean Energy Center, we're ensuring a stable and reliable power source that bolsters grid resilience and supports thousands of local jobs,” Kevin Janda, director of global data center strategy at Meta, said in a statement. “This collaboration not only strengthens the grid’s infrastructure but also contributes to the economic vitality of the region and helps bolster American leadership in AI.”
A long-term carbon-free power resource with high capacity factor
The Clinton nuclear power plant was commissioned in 1987 after a $4 billion construction phase. It generates carbon-free power with a General Electric boiling water reactor and has a lifetime capacity factor of close to 80%, meaning it has operated at capacity for that portion of time over 38 years. The capacity factor at nuclear plants far exceeds those of coal-fired, gas-fired and renewable energy power generation, according to federal Energy Information Administration statistics.
The Meta PPA, which is in line with the movement of other digital infrastructure firms to reinvigorate the nuclear power industry, comes with the rise in AI and cloud-based computing. The Clinton PPA with Meta begins June 2027 and could extend Clinton’s operations for another 20 years.
“Now more than ever, it’s critical that we maintain and expand all sources of clean, reliable energy, and thanks to Meta’s investment, the future of the Clinton Clean Energy Center and its contributions to this community are secure,” said Kathleen Barrón, Constellation Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Growth Officer. “With Meta’s support and the backing of state and local leaders, hundreds of jobs, millions of dollars in state and local taxes, and all the economic benefits of Clinton are here to stay, delivering power to the grid for the next two decades, at zero cost to utility customers.”
Other tech giants also are pursuing both conventional and next-gen small modular reactor nuclear deals to meet their load commitments with carbon-free power. Microsoft signed a deal with Constellation which could fund restart of Three Mile Island Unit 1 which was retired several years ago.
The deal with Meta that keeps Clinton open and operational has both economic and environmental consequences. An analysis by research firm Brattle Group indicated that closing Clinton the Dresden nuclear plant also in Illinois--off-setting those with fossil power--would raise emissions by more than 34 million metric tons over 20 years.
Brattle also forecasts that the once planned closure, by eliminating hundreds of jobs, could have lowered the statewide gross domestic product by $765 million per year.
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About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
Rod Walton has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.