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Google and NextEra Energy announced on Monday plans to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa, which has been closed since 2020, to help power Google’s growing artificial intelligence and cloud operations in the United States.
The facility, located near Cedar Rapids, is scheduled to return to service in 2029 under a new partnership between the technology giant and the power company, the two firms said in a joint statement.
Google signed a 25-year agreement to purchase electricity from the 615-megawatt plant once it resumes operation.
The plant will be 100 percent owned by NextEra, which has agreed to buy out the remaining stakes held by Central Iowa Power Cooperative and Corn Belt Power Cooperative.
NextEra said one of the plant’s minority owners, Central Iowa Power Cooperative, will also purchase part of the facility’s output under the same terms as Google.
“As the U.S. enters a new era of innovation and opportunity driven by AI, this strategic collaboration aims to enable Google to grow its business needs responsibly,” the companies said, describing nuclear power as a carbon-free source of energy.
Alphabet and Google President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat said the project “serves as a model for the investments needed across the country to build energy capacity and deliver reliable, clean power, while protecting affordability and creating jobs that will drive the AI-driven economy.”
NextEra CEO John Ketchum called the restart “an important milestone,” saying the partnership “not only brings nuclear energy back to Iowa but also accelerates the development of next-generation nuclear technology.”
The Duane Arnold Energy Center, Iowa’s only nuclear plant, operated for 45 years before shutting down in 2020.
While three nuclear restart efforts are underway in the U.S., no previously closed plant has yet resumed operations.
The agreement follows a similar move by Constellation Energy to restart Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island plant after signing a 20-year deal with Microsoft. That facility, closed in 2019, is now set to reopen as the Crane Clean Energy Center.
Google has also partnered with Elementl Power to develop three advanced nuclear plants in the U.S. as part of its broader strategy to meet rising energy demands from AI and data centers.
The International Energy Agency projected in April that global electricity consumption from data centers will more than double by 2030.
It is estimated that data centers consumed about 415 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024, around 1.5% of total global use, while warning of “substantial uncertainty” over future energy demand.
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