Going nuclear: Google, Kairos Power, TVA collaborate to meet region’s growing energy needs

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A power triumvirate has been established to responsibly meet growing business in the Tennessee Valley while driving local economic growth and opportunity.

And Jackson County is at the epicenter of this collaboration.

Google, Kairos Power, and the Tennessee Valley Authority have formed a partnership to help meet America’s growing energy demand and bolster the country’s leadership in advanced nuclear energy.

“To power the future, we need to grow the availability of smart, firm energy sources,” said Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s global head of data center energy. “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. Lessons from the development and operation of the Hermes 2 plant will help drive down the cost of future reactors, improving the economics of clean firm power generation in the TVA region and beyond.”

Through a power purchase agreement between Kairos Power and TVA, Kairos Power’s Hermes 2 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., will deliver up to 50 megawatts of energy to the TVA grid that powers Google data centers in Jackson County and Tennessee.

“This collaboration is an important enabler to making advanced nuclear energy commercially competitive,” said Mike Laufer, Kairos Power CEO and co-founder. “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.

“We are excited to grow Kairos Power’s operations in Oak Ridge while writing a new chapter in the region’s distinguished nuclear history.”

TVA is the first U.S. utility to sign a PPA to buy electricity from an advanced, GEN IV reactor, and Hermes 2 is the first deployment under Kairos Power’s landmark deal with Google to enable 500 MW of new, advanced nuclear capacity to come online by 2035 in support of Google’s load growth.

To accelerate the delivery of clean energy to Google, Kairos Power will increase Hermes 2’s output from 28 MW to 50 MW generated by a single reactor, scheduled to begin operations in 2030.

Through this agreement, Google will receive the clean energy attributes from the plant through the TVA system to further decarbonize its data center operations in Montgomery County, Tenn., and Bridgeport and support growth in the region.

“Energy security is national security, and electricity is the strategic commodity that is the building block for AI and our nation’s economic prosperity,” said TVA President and CEO Don Moul. “The world is looking for American leadership, and this first-of-a-kind agreement is the start of an innovative way of doing business. 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.”

Google, Kairos Power, and TVA said the partnership protects electricity customers by limiting development costs to first movers while helping to bring costs down for customers as additional units are delivered.