Google buys 20 years of power: $4.3 billion to deliver 890 MW of new nuclear capacity in the PJM region
Google and Constellation Energy signed a 20-year power purchase agreement on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, that will fund $4.3 billion in upgrades at six nuclear plants in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois. The upgrades are expected to add 890 megawatts of new capacity to the PJM grid between 2028 and 2032 — roughly as much as an entirely new reactor plant, without building a single new reactor.
What was signed
The deal has two parts. The main element is a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) between Google/Alphabet and Constellation, which, according to the companies, gives Constellation predictable revenue to carry out upgrades at 11 company-owned reactor units, according to Axios (source, ID 08112420). The upgrades are to come online in phases from 2028 to 2032.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, citing Constellation's Tuesday statement, reports that the deal covers six nuclear plants in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Illinois (source, ID 36d1a0b0). The figure of 11 units across six plants is not necessarily a contradiction — multiple units can sit at the same plant — but the companies have not published a full breakdown reconciling the two numbers.
In addition, Google signed a separate 15-year energy supply agreement for a further 2,700 megawatts from Constellation's existing fleet, according to both companies. It is unclear how much of this capacity will go directly to Google's data centers, and how much will be resold on the grid.
How the mechanism works
This is not about new reactors or restarting shut-down plants, but so-called uprates: extracting more output from existing reactors. Constellation says turbines, steam generators and digital control systems will be upgraded to increase both thermal and electrical efficiency and thereby "unlock additional reliable, baseload power for the grid," according to the company's statement as cited by the Inquirer.
The contract mechanism is simple: a 20-year power purchase agreement gives Constellation a long and predictable revenue stream that can serve as the basis for financing a $4.3 billion investment. Without such a contract, the upgrades would depend on spot prices or regional approval.
The two plants named in reporting are both in the Philadelphia area: the Limerick Clean Energy Center in Montgomery County is to gain 348 MW of additional capacity, while Salem Generating Station in southern New Jersey is to gain 97 MW, according to Constellation via the Inquirer. The remaining plants are not specified with capacity figures in the available reporting.
From rumor to contract
The announcement came one day after Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter, that Alphabet was nearing a multi-year nuclear power deal with Constellation worth "at least $1 billion" (source, ID 035f200b). Neither company commented at the time. The confirmed picture after Tuesday is thus the 20-year agreement, $4.3 billion in investment, and 890 MW — not the $1 billion figure, which was never confirmed. Google has refused to say what it is paying: a spokesperson would not discuss the financing terms, according to the Inquirer.
The pattern: Big Tech buys firm, low-carbon power
The deal fits a clear pattern. Technology companies are competing for firm, low-carbon electricity for the data centers driving AI development:
- Amazon signed a similar deal with Constellation in Maryland the week before.
- Meta has agreements to keep nuclear plants running in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
- Microsoft is buying power from the restart of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.
For Google, this is not the company's first nuclear push. Last year it entered a partnership with NextEra Energy to support the restart of a nuclear plant in Iowa, and last month Google signed an agreement with Southern Co. to support upgrades at two of the company's nuclear plants, according to Tekedia.
The difference is that this deal is not about rescuing a plant from closure or restarting it, but about squeezing more power out of a fleet that is already running.
The companies' jobs claims and statements
Constellation says the deal will sustain roughly 4,400 existing jobs and create around 7,200 construction jobs across the sites. These are the company's own figures, presented in a statement, and have not been independently verified.
Constellation's chairman, president and CEO Joe Dominguez said in a statement: "Preserving and expanding output from the existing nuclear fleet and developing new clean generation is critical to meeting the nation's growing energy needs while keeping costs affordable for homes and businesses."
Google's global head of energy and power, Amanda Peterson Corio, said: "We are committed to meeting our growth responsibly by actively investing in clean, reliable power that brings new capacity to the nation's grid."
Why uprates beat new builds on speed
According to the companies, 890 MW is roughly equivalent to the output of a new nuclear plant. The point is time: building a new reactor in the United States typically takes a decade or more of licensing and construction, while upgrades to existing, already-licensed plants can be delivered in phases starting as soon as 2028. For technology companies competing for electricity for data centers on a grid with limited spare capacity, a delivery horizon of four to six years is an entirely different proposition from fifteen to twenty.
Uprates also do not carry the same costs as new builds: $4.3 billion for 890 MW works out to roughly $4,800 per kilowatt — lower than typical cost estimates for new Western reactors, though the figure here rests only on Constellation's own investment summary.
Open questions
Several key questions remain unanswered:
- The value of Google's deal. Google refuses to disclose what it is paying. Bloomberg's "at least $1 billion" was a rumor before the announcement and was never confirmed.
- How the 890 MW is allocated. It has not been stated how much of the new capacity is earmarked for Google's data centers versus sold on the PJM grid generally. Dominguez's and Corio's statements suggest it will at least partly serve the grid, but the concrete allocation is missing.
- Units and plants. Axios reports 11 units; the Inquirer, six plants. The companies have not published a breakdown linking the two figures, and a complete plant list with capacity per plant is lacking.
- Salem's ownership. Salem is partially owned by PSE&G (57 percent). It is unclear how Constellation's share of the upgrade there relates to the total figure of 890 MW.
- Primary sources. All deal terms so far exist only through secondary reporting of company statements. The contract itself, or complete press releases with plant-level details, have not been made public in the available material.
What it means
For the PJM region, which supplies electricity to some of the most data-center-dense markets in the United States, the deal means 890 MW of additional firm capacity at a time when the grid is already strained. For the nuclear industry, it is a signal that upgrading the existing fleet has become a financeable business model when large technology companies bring 20-year contracts to the table.
And for Google, this is its third nuclear push in a row — a restart in Iowa, upgrades at Southern Co., and now uprates at Constellation — showing that the company is not betting on a single technology, but is buying firm low-carbon capacity wherever it can be delivered fastest. What it costs, and how much of the electricity actually powers Google's own servers, remains to be seen.