Google and Kairos Power partner on 500 MW advanced nuclear project

Kairos Power and Google announced over the weekend a new power purchase agreement to provide the tech giant with 500 megawatts of clean energy by 2035.

Under the agreement, California-based Kairos Power will develop, construct, and operate a series of advanced reactor plants and sell energy, ancillary services, and environmental benefits to Google. Plants will be sited in "relevant service territories" to supply clean electricity to Google data centers. The first reactor is planned to be deployed by 2030 to support Google's 24/7 carbon-free energy and net-zero goals.

No specifics on locations or total cost of the project have been released by Google and Kairos so far.

Quotable: "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 chief executive and cofounder. "By coming alongside in the development phase, Google is more than just a customer. They are a partner who deeply understands our innovative approach and the potential it can deliver."

"This agreement is a key part of our effort to commercialize and scale the advanced energy technologies we need to reach our net-zero and 24/7 carbon-free energy goals and ensure that more communities benefit from clean and affordable power in the future," said Michael Terrell, Google's senior director of energy and climate.

Flexible approach: The multiplant agreement would support technology development, allowing Kairos to incorporate lessons learned as each advanced reactor is built out to support the 500-MW deal.

However, milestone-based accountability is also baked into the agreement to establish confidence in Kairos's ability to deliver throughout the long-term partnership.

"Having an agreement for multiple deployments is important to accelerate the commercialization of advanced nuclear energy by demonstrating the technical and market viability of a solution critical to decarbonizing power grids while delivering much-needed energy generation and capacity," said Jeff Olson, Kairos Power's vice president of business development and finance. "This early commitment from Google provides a strong customer demand signal, which reinforces Kairos Power's continued investment in our iterative development approach and commercial production scale-up."

About Kairos Power: Founded in 2016, the company has a singular focus on commercializing its fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature advanced nuclear reactor. Kairos sees this type of unit as a clean-energy solution that can be deployed safely and with an affordable cost to aid the world's transition to clean energy.

About Google: The company has made a deep commitment to decarbonization. Since 2010, Google has signed more than 115 agreements to purchase more than 14 GW of clean energy generation capacity. The additional nuclear generation developed under this multiplant agreement with Kairos will complement Google's existing use of variable renewables, like solar and wind.

The big picture: Demand for nuclear power has surged in recent years to support the growing need for energy to power data centers, artificial intelligence, and business stakeholders.

This latest Kairos deal comes on the heels of a similar agreement Microsoft signed in September with Constellation, which hopes to restart its shuttered Three Mile Island Unit 1 as the Crane Clean Energy Center to serve as a direct generation to the tech company's needs in Pennsylvania.

Earlier this year, Amazon announced a similar deal-worth $650 million-with Talen Energy, which is hoping to channel power to the company from its Susquehanna Steam Electric Station in Pennsylvania. Amazon has a goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.

The plans for all these projects will still require approval from nuclear and industry regulators.