Nuclear energy is on a rapid rise. And now, Amazon is making a big bet that it’s going to be the future of powering their data centres.
What’s happening:
- Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has acquired a nuclear energy powered data centre from independent power producer Talen Energy
- The new purchase is aiming to expand the capacity of their Amazon Web Services cloud computing arm
Why it matters:
- Talen Energy’s data centre is powered by nuclear energy and runs entirely off of zero carbon power
- Being able to power large data centre infrastructure and cloud computing from carbon free power is an important component of the energy transition and getting closer to net zero emissions globally
By the numbers:
- Amazon paid $650M USD to purchase the Cumulus data centre campus from Talen Energy
- The power that Cumulus operates from is generated by Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, a 2.5 gigawatt nuclear power station located in Pennsylvania
- As part of the acquisition, Talen has agreed to continue to provide nuclear power to Amazon for the next 10 years
Going deeper:
- Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf (NASDAQ: WULF) has an existing partnership with Talen to use nuclear energy to power their Bitcoin mining operations, which are hosted on the same property as the Cumulus data centre campus
- The quest for building more nuclear energy infrastructure has led to a flurry of new funding in the public markets for uranium exploration, including the formation of Canada’s largest land package for potential high grade uranium deposits located in the Athabasca Basin
The intrigue:
- Talen Energy recently confidentially filed with the SEC to list on a major stock exchange in the United States
