Google, Kairos Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) have announced a new collaboration to address growing US energy demand and reinforce the country’s leadership in advanced nuclear energy.
Through a new power purchase agreement (PPA) between Kairos and TVA, Kairos’ Hermes 2 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, will supply up to 50MW of round-the-clock energy to the TVA grid, which powers Google data centres in Montgomery County, Tennessee, and Jackson County, Alabama.
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TVA is the first US utility to enter a PPA to purchase electricity from an advanced GEN IV reactor.
TVA president and CEO Don Moul stated: “Energy security is national security, and electricity is the strategic commodity that is the building block for AI and our nation’s economic prosperity.
“By developing a technology, a supply chain and a delivery model that can build an industry to unleash American energy, we can attract and support companies like Google and help America win the AI race.”
Hermes 2 also marks the inaugural deployment under Kairos’ agreement with Google, announced in October 2024, to facilitate the addition of 500MW of new advanced nuclear capacity online by 2035 to support Google’s increasing energy demands.
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By GlobalDataTo expedite the delivery of clean energy to Google, Kairos Power will increase Hermes 2’s output from 28MW to 50MW generated by a single reactor, with operations scheduled to commence in 2030.
Kairos Power CEO and co-founder Mike Laufer 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.”
Google will obtain the clean energy attributes from the plant via the TVA system.
This initiative aims to further decarbonise Google’s data centre operations in Tennessee and Alabama, while supporting future growth in the region.
Google Data Center Energy global head Amanda Peterson Corio stated: “This collaboration with TVA, Kairos Power and the Oak Ridge community will accelerate the deployment of innovative nuclear technologies and help support the needs of our growing digital economy while also bringing firm carbon-free energy to the electricity system.”
This collaboration underscores TVA’s commitment to integrating innovative, reliable energy sources such as Kairos Power’s advanced nuclear technology to promote the growth of new, clean energy generation within its service area.
Google, Kairos Power and TVA are working together to provide an innovative solution for industrial energy users, enabling them to responsibly address their increasing business demands while fostering local economic growth and opportunities.
This strategy safeguards electricity customers by capping development costs for early adopters, while simultaneously reducing costs for customers as more units are introduced.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright stated: “The deployment of advanced nuclear reactors is essential to US AI dominance and energy leadership.
“The Department of Energy has assisted Kairos Power with overcoming technical, operational and regulatory challenges as a participant in the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, and DOE will continue to help accelerate the next American nuclear renaissance.”
