Constellation shares surge on $4.3 billion Google nuclear power deal

Constellation shares rose about 5% in pre-market trading on Tuesday after the company secured a major 20-year power purchase agreement with Google. The deal will add 890 megawatts of new nuclear capacity to the PJM Interconnection grid, funded by investments in upgrades at 11 Constellation-owned nuclear units across Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The upgrades aim to boost thermal and electrical efficiency, unlocking additional power for the grid.

The agreement will support roughly 4,400 existing jobs and create around 7,200 new construction jobs during the project's duration. Constellation plans to invest over $4.3 billion under the deal. Additionally, the companies entered into a 15-year energy supply agreement for an extra 2,700 megawatts in PJM’s fleet, ensuring continued energy delivery to the market.

Constellation will leverage Google Cloud and Gemini Enterprise under a five-year technology alliance to establish an 'AI for energy' blueprint. This initiative aims to accelerate capacity delivery, optimize asset dispatch, and protect critical infrastructure. 'We’re committed to meeting our growth responsibly by actively investing in clean, reliable power that brings new capacity to our nation’s grids,' stated Amanda Peterson Corio, global head of energy and power at Google.

The 890 megawatts of incremental capacity is comparable to the output of several Small Modular Reactors or a large new conventional reactor. The initiative aligns with the federal government’s UPRISE program, which promotes public-private collaboration to maximize clean electricity output from existing nuclear infrastructure. The first uprate under the agreement is expected to be delivered by 2028.