Google, nuclear technology firm Kairos Power, and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) have announced a collaboration to deliver advanced nuclear energy to Google’s data centres in the United States. Under the agreement, TVA will purchase power from Kairos Power’s Hermes 2 plant in Tennessee, which will provide up to 50 megawatts (MW) of continuous energy to the TVA grid. Google will receive the clean energy attributes through TVA to support operations at its data centres in Tennessee and Alabama.
The Hermes 2 plant is expected to commence operations in 2030. To expedite the delivery of clean energy, Kairos Power plans to increase the plant’s output from 28 MW to 50 MW using a single reactor. This facility marks the first deployment under Kairos Power’s broader agreement with Google to bring 500 MW of advanced nuclear capacity online by 2035, aligning with Google’s increasing energy demands.
Google initially partnered with Kairos Power in October 2024 to advance multiple small modular reactor deployments, aiming to enable 500 MW of new, advanced nuclear capacity by 2035. Mike Laufer, CEO and Co-Founder of Kairos Power, stated, “This collaboration is an important enabler to making advanced nuclear energy commercially competitive. The re-envisioned Hermes 2 gets us closer to the commercial fleet sooner and could only be made possible by close collaboration with TVA and Google, and a supportive local community. We are excited to grow Kairos Power’s operations in Oak Ridge while writing a new chapter in the region’s distinguished nuclear history.”
The companies emphasised that by combining utility-scale innovation with corporate demand, the collaboration seeks to bolster local economic growth while advancing the United States’ leadership in nuclear energy. Don Moul, CEO of TVA, remarked, “Nuclear is the bedrock of the future of energy security. Google stepping in and helping shoulder the burden of the cost and risk for first-of-a-kind nuclear projects not only helps Google get to those solutions, but it keeps us from having to burden our customers with development of that technology. So it’s not just good for Google, it’s good for TVA’s 10 million customers. It’s good for the United States.”
This new agreement follows Google’s announcement in July that it managed to reduce carbon emissions from its data centres by 12% in 2024, despite a significant rise in energy usage. Nevertheless, Google’s overall carbon footprint continued to grow in 2024, driven by a substantial increase in emissions from its supply chain, with Scope 3 emissions rising by more than 20% that year.
Google’s achievement in reducing data centre emissions marks a notable turnaround for the company, following a 37% increase in Scope 2 emissions—which include purchased electricity for data centres and offices—reported in the previous year, despite a 27% increase in electricity demand from its data centres. Google also highlighted its efforts to improve data centre energy efficiency as a key source of emissions reduction, noting that its data centres now deliver more than six times more computing power per unit of electricity than they did five years ago.
