Amazon has plans to extend a Pennsylvania data center next to a nuclear power plant in what would be the largest investment in the state’s history. The e-commerce giant pledged $20 billion to add an additional data center to one that is currently under construction.
Leveraging Nuclear Power for Data
Amazon reportedly plans to connect one of the complexes to northeastern Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant. The company wants to use nuclear energy from the plant to power this data center. The other will be built in Fairless Hills at a logistics campus, the Keystone Trade Center. Amazon plans to use the electricity grid to power this data center.
Talen Energy is the majority owner of the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, which sold its data center and the land to Amazon for $650 million last year. According to reports, the deal allows Amazon to eventually use the 960 megawatts of electricity, enough to power around half a million homes. Amazon is now tearing down the existing data center from Talen Energy to build its own bigger complex.
Explore Tomorrow's World From Your Inbox
Get the latest science, technology, and sustainability content delivered to your inbox.
I understand that by providing my email address, I agree to receive emails from Tomorrow's World Today. I understand that I may opt out of receiving such communications at any time.
This deal, however, is on hold by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for review.
An investment this size is not uncommon for the e-commerce giant. Since 2024, Amazon has pledged $10 billion each for data centers in Mississippi, Indiana, Ohio, and North Carolina. There is a clear and growing need for big tech companies to power the massive data centers and artificial intelligence complexes. As a result, the companies are turning to forgotten energy plants.
In Pennsylvania alone, Microsoft reached an agreement with the owners of the Three Mile Island nuclear site to restart its reactor and power its data centers for another 20 years.
Meanwhile, the owners of what was once Pennsylvania’s biggest coal-fired power plants plan to turn the site into a $10 billion natural gas-powered data center.
Big tech companies would much rather build and connect data centers directly to power plants, which generate power faster than harnessing electricity from a grid. Amazon hopes to do the same, but must await the FCRE’s decision as the firm reviews Amazon’s case.
