Google and electric power and energy infrastructure provider NextEra Energy announced a new agreement to restart a nuclear plant in Iowa shut down in 2020, with Google signing a 25-year deal to purchase energy generated by the plant to help power its growing cloud and AI infrastructure in the state.
Alongside the power purchase agreement (PPA), Google and NextEra also announced a new agreement to explore the development of new nuclear generation to be deployed in the U.S.
The agreements form the latest in a series of moves by Google and its tech giant peers to help develop and harness new nuclear energy capacity to help power their rapidly expanding data center footprints, while safeguarding their goals to reduce their climate footprints.
Google has set goals to reach net zero emissions across its operations and value chain, and to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy (CFE) by 2030. Over the past several years, Google has pursued an increasingly broad range of technologies to address the carbon footprint of its energy usage, signing more than 170 agreements to purchase over 22 GW of clean energy generation since 2010, initially focused primarily on renewables, but more recently expanding to include geothermal, advanced nuclear, energy storage, biomass solutions and carbon capture. Despite Google’s growing energy usage, the company reported that it managed to reduce the carbon emissions from its data centers by 12% in 2024.
Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet and Google, said:
“This partnership serves as a model for the investments needed across the country to build energy capacity and deliver reliable, clean power, while protecting affordability and creating jobs that will drive the AI-driven economy.”
Google’s 25 year PPA will enable the investment to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center (Duane Arnold), Iowa’s only nuclear facility, located near Cedar Rapids. The plant was initially commissioned in 1975, and operated for more than 45 years, before being shut down in 2020. The new agreement anticipates the 615 MW plant coming back online in early 2029.
John Ketchum, Chairman and CEO of NextEra Energy, said:
“Restarting Duane Arnold marks an important milestone for NextEra Energy. Our partnership with Google not only brings nuclear energy back to Iowa — it also accelerates the development of next-generation nuclear technology.”
NextEra Energy also announced that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire the remaining 30% interest in the plant that it doesn’t currently hold, currently held by CIPCO and Corn Belt Power Cooperative, and that CIPCO will purchase the remaining portion of the plant’s output on the same terms as Google.
