Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp owner Meta announced that it has signed a new agreement with Constellation Energy, extending the life of a nuclear energy facility in Illinois for 20 years, with its 1.1 GW of output supporting Meta’s operations in the region, as well as the company’s clean energy goals.
The new agreement, beginning in June 2027, will allow Constellation’s Clinton Clean Energy Center in DeWitt County, Illinois to be relicensed and to continue operating for another 20 years. The site entered commercial service in 1987, and was slated for premature closure in 2017 after years of financial losses, although the closure was postponed through mid-2027 by the state’s Future Energy Jobs Act, through support from a zero emission credit (ZEC) program.
According to Constellation, the new agreement will essentially replace the ZEC program, and will also add 30 MW of capacity through plant uprates. The company added that it is also evaluating strategies to extend the plant’s existing early site permit or seek a new construction permit from the to pursue development of an advanced nuclear reactor or small modular reactor (SMR) at the site.
The agreement follows a deal last year between Constellation and Microsoft enabling the restart of the Three Mile Island Unit 1 nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania.
Constellation President and CEO Joe Dominguez said:
“Last year, Constellation’s announced plan to restart the Crane Clean Energy Center became national news, but despite all of the interest and overwhelming support, a key question was missed: why did we let such a valuable plant close in the first place? We all know that the closure cost our community jobs, tax revenue, more pollution and higher prices. We are proud to partner with Meta because they asked that important question, and even better, they figured out that supporting the relicensing and expansion of existing plants is just as impactful as finding new sources of energy. Sometimes the most important part of our journey forward is to stop taking steps backwards.”
The announcement is the latest in a series of moves by Meta to turn to nuclear power to address the need for a rapid increase in electricity production to accommodate the growth in AI-driven data center capacity and power consumption, while protecting its goals to reduce the emissions impact of its operations.
Meta has set targets to reach net-zero emissions across its value chain by 2030, and to continue to match 100% of the electricity used in its data centers and offices with renewable energy. In the company’s 2024 Sustainability Report, Meta said that while it has maintained net zero in its operations since 2020, its 2030 net zero value chain goal will be significantly harder to achieve, adding that “the challenge of reaching our sustainability goals given the increased demand for energy and resources driven by AI is not unique to Meta.”
In late 2024, the company announced the launch of a request for proposals (RFPs) for nuclear energy developers in the U.S. to provide new nuclear capacity, targeting the addition of between 1-to-4 gigawatts (GW) of new nuclear generation, with delivery to begin in the early 2030s. In an update provided with the Constellation announcement, Meta said that it has received more than 50 qualified submissions to its RFP from utilities, developers and nuclear technology manufacturers, and that it has shortlisted projects across multiple states representing the most feasible opportunities., with priority given to sites where nuclear development can be advanced quickly with high degrees of certainty on execution and timeline.
Earlier this year, Meta, alongside companies including its tech giant peers Amazon and Google signed a pledge to support the goal to triple global nuclear energy capacity by 2050.
Urvi Parekh, Head of Global Energy at Meta, said:
“Securing clean, reliable energy is necessary to continue advancing our AI ambitions. We are proud to help keep the Clinton plant operating for years to come and demonstrate that this plant is an important piece to strengthening American leadership in energy.”
