WASHINGTON, SEPT 22 –Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear accident in the United States (US), will restart operations to supply power to Microsoft, US electric company Constellation Energy announced last Friday.
Microsoft will use the ability to deliver its growing artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services, where it puts pressure on local electricity suppliers as the tech giant builds more power-hungry data centers.
The 20-year agreement re-engages Unit 1, which operated at industry-leading levels of safety and reliability for several decades before shutting down for economic reasons five years ago,” Constellation said in a statement.
Unit 1 was not involved in the 1979 partial nuclear crisis at the Pennsylvania site.
In 2019, the plant could power an average of over 800,000 homes.
Microsoft will use that energy to support the power grid in the mid-Atlantic states around Washington DC, a region considered the crossroads of the internet.
Microsoft’s Vice President of Energy, Bobby Hollis, said Three Mile Island’s nuclear power will boost the power grid that covers 13 states.
Those areas face severe pressure from the massive energy use of data centers, raising concerns about grid stability as AI demands increase.
Tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Google are rapidly expanding their data center capabilities to meet the computing needs of the AI revolution while scouring the world for electricity.
Hollis said the project is part of a multi-technology approach to power which also includes wind and solar power as well as an important pathway to achieving our goal of becoming carbon-free by 2030.”
Microsoft earlier this year signed a deal with Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management to develop more than 10.5 gigawatts of new wind and solar farms, marking one of the largest corporate purchases of renewable energy to date. – AFP
