Google and Constellation Sign a $4.3 Billion Nuclear Deal to Power the AI Boom

Google will fund efficiency upgrades at 11 existing reactors in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, adding 890 megawatts of new carbon-free power to the PJM grid — the clearest sign yet that AI's electricity appetite is reshaping the energy industry.

Google and Constellation Energy said on Tuesday they have signed a 20-year power purchase agreement that will add 890 megawatts of new nuclear capacity to the PJM electric grid — the clearest signal yet that the artificial-intelligence boom is reshaping how America's largest companies buy electricity.

Rather than build new plants, the deal funds "uprates": efficiency upgrades at 11 Constellation-owned reactors across six sites in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The companies will modernize turbines, steam generators and digital control systems to squeeze more power from machines that are already running. The first uprate is expected online by 2028, and Constellation pegs the investment at more than $4.3 billion. The work is expected to sustain roughly 4,400 existing jobs while creating about 7,200 construction jobs.

Alongside the nuclear agreement, the two companies signed a 15-year energy supply deal for another 2,700 megawatts in PJM's fleet, bringing the total package to roughly 3.6 gigawatts. It follows a similar pact Constellation struck with Amazon just a week earlier — a 20-year agreement underpinning a $3 billion, 190-megawatt expansion of the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland, expected online between 2030 and 2032.

The timing is not incidental. PJM Interconnection, which serves about 67 million people, is short roughly 6.8 gigawatts of new capacity and has delayed a reliability backstop auction after federal regulators only partly approved it. Constellation framed the Google deal as a direct answer to PJM's "Bring Your Own Power" proposal — a model for large power users to fund new supply themselves instead of leaning on ratepayers or mandates. Google tied the arrangement to a White House ratepayer protection pledge.

"We're committed to meeting our growth responsibly by actively investing in clean, reliable power that brings new capacity to our nation's grids," said Amanda Peterson Corio, Google's global head of energy and power. Constellation chief executive Joe Dominguez called it "a model for how technology companies and the energy industry can work together ... in a way that delivers grid-wide benefits for all."

Uprates have become attractive precisely because they sidestep the decade-long timelines and interconnection queues that stall new reactors. The 890 megawatts is equivalent to several small modular reactors or one large conventional unit, and Constellation said the effort advances UPRISE, a federal program meant to coax more output from the existing nuclear fleet.

The partnership extends to software as well. Under an expanded five-year technology alliance, Constellation will build Google Cloud and Gemini Enterprise "agentic workflows" into its operations — using AI for site selection, power-flow modeling, permitting, generation optimization and the security of air-gapped control networks.

Investors read the announcement as a win for the nuclear operator: shares of Constellation Energy (Nasdaq: CEG) jumped nearly 14% in morning trading.

Sources: Constellation Energy, Utility Dive