Under the agreement, Kairos Power will develop, construct and operate a series of advanced nuclear plants, selling energy and ancillary services to Google under Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

Google said the plants will be sited in relevant service territories to supply clean power to its data centers. The first deployment is targeted by 2030 to support the tech giant’s 24/7 carbon-free goals. The additional power from this agreement will complement Google’s existing use of renewables, like solar and wind.

The deal represents the first corporate agreement for multiple deployments of a single advanced reactor design in the United States. 

“Our partnership with Google will enable Kairos Power to quickly advance down the learning curve as we drive toward cost and schedule certainty for our commercial product,” said Mike Laufer, Kairos Power CEO and co-founder.

California-based Kairos Power is working on fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor technology. The company’s 35 MW thermal reactor will test the concept of using molten salt as a coolant and test the type of nuclear fuel.

Last December, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a construction permit to Kairos for its Hermes test reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This was the first construction permit NRC has issued for a reactor that uses something other than water to cool the reactor core.

In July of this year, Kairos Power began construction on the Hermes reactor. The project aims to be operational in 2027. Hermes’ primary objective will be to demonstrate Kairos Power’s ability to produce affordable nuclear heat. Hermes will not produce electricity.

Kairos Power aims to develop a larger version for commercial electricity that could be used in the early 2030s.

Technology giants like Microsoft, Google and Amazon are driving significant electricity demand, primarily through rapidly expanding data center operations. These data centers are essential for supporting cloud services, AI development and other digital operations. The facilities require vast amounts of power to run servers, cooling systems and other infrastructure needed to store and process massive amounts of data.

According to a study published by EPRI in May, data centers could consume up to 9% of U.S. electricity generation by 2030 — more than double the amount currently used.

Google says the proposed partnership has been sent to the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada for approval. The company has set a goal of powering its data centers and buildings with 100% carbon-free energy by 2030. In an environmental report released last year, Google said it has achieved 64% carbon-free energy at its data centers, and 56% at its offices.

The supply agreement for 115 MW of geothermal energy would increase the amount of enhanced geothermal capacity Google uses for operations by 25 times, according to the company.

Late last year, Google announced an advanced geothermal project, through a partnership with Houston-based Fervo Energy, had begun pumping carbon-free electricity onto the Nevada grid to power its data centers there.

Google and Fervo Energy started working together in 2021 to develop next-generation geothermal power. Now that the site near Winnemucca, Nevada is operating commercially, its three wells are sending about 3.5 megawatts to the grid.

In March, Google, Microsoft, and Nucor Corporation announced they would work together across the electricity ecosystem to develop new business models and aggregate their demand for advanced clean electricity technologies.

These models are intended to accelerate the development of “first-of-a-kind” and early commercial projects, including advanced nuclear, next-generation geothermal, clean hydrogen, long-duration energy storage (LDES), and more.

At least 38 GW of peak demand growth is expected through 2028, driven by the development of data centers and industrial and manufacturing facilities, according to a recent report from Grid Strategies.

The report, The Era of Flat Power Demand is Over, cited forecasts from grid planners, who have doubled the five-year load growth forecast over the past year. The nationwide forecast of electricity demand jumped from 2.6% to 4.7% growth over the next five years, according to FERC filings – and these forecasts are likely an underestimate, Grid Strategies said. Recent updates have tacked on several GW to that forecast, and next year’s will likely show an even steeper growth rate.

The International Energy Agency has long projected geothermal could be a serious solution to climate change. In a 2011 roadmap document, IEA suggested geothermal could reach some 3.5% of global electricity generation annually by 2050, avoiding almost 800 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

This article contains reporting from the Associated Press.

These models are intended to accelerate the development of “first-of-a-kind” and early commercial projects, including advanced nuclear, next-generation geothermal, clean hydrogen, long-duration energy storage (LDES), and more. As a first step, the companies will issue an RFI in several US regions for potential projects in need of offtake and encourage technology providers, developers, investors, utilities, and others interested in responding to get in touch.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), firm, dispatchable clean electricity technologies and advanced energy storage systems are needed to cost-effectively decarbonize grids. These technologies can fill gaps in wind and solar production and support reliability.

However, the companies note that these technologies face challenges, in part because the novelty and risk of early projects make it difficult to secure the financing they need. By developing new commercial structures and aggregating demand from three of the world’s largest energy buyers, the companies hope to reduce the risks for utilities and developers considering early commercial projects and enable the investments that are needed – ultimately helping to bring these projects online by the early 2030s and reducing technology costs through repeated deployment.

The companies will initially focus on proving the demand aggregation and procurement model through advanced technology pilot projects in the United States. The companies will pilot a project delivery framework focused on: signing offtake agreements for technologies still early on the cost curve, bringing a clear customer voice to policymakers and other stakeholders on broader long-term ecosystem improvements, and developing new enabling tariff structures in partnership with energy providers and utilities. 

Google, Microsoft, and Nucor will share their lessons learned and the roadmap from their first pilot projects, and encourage other companies to consider how they can also support advanced clean electricity projects.

Originally published in Renewable Energy World.