Plans to expand Google’s data center in Jackson County, Alabama, are underway with a $1.5 billion investment from the company. Google says energy costs will be covered by the company and operations powered by nuclear energy, eventually.
Construction for the expansion will span between 2026 and 2027 at a cost of $1.5 billion. Google says that the entirety of the “power and infrastructure” will be funded by the company in line with the US government’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge. Abiding by that pledge means Google would need to plan so that local electricity costs would not increase as a result of the increased activity in Google’s Jackson County data center.
Google notes that the expansion will eventually be powered by nuclear power through a partnership put in place between Google, Kairos, and TVA in 2025. The agreement supplies Google with up to 50 megawatts of clean power to data centers in both Alabama and Tennessee. That agreement would allow Google to draw power from a dedicated grid rather than relying on local energy sources that may drive demand.
It doesn’t appear that the pipeline has been opened yet, as Google notes it has contracted with TVA to bring more than 300 MV of “new generation capacity to the Tennessee Valley region” for the time being. It claims it’s currently acting to reduce power use during peak demand times until nuclear power becomes an option.
