Google will start harnessing power from a cutting-edge nuclear fusion company as it seeks to use cleaner energy for its artificial intelligence (AI) data centres.
The search giant has agreed to buy 200 megawatts (MW) of power starting in the 2030s from US fusion start-up Commonwealth Energy Systems, which is planning a nuclear fusion plant.
Google will also take part-ownership of the business, which previously raised $1.8bn (£1.3bn) in 2021 from investors including Bill Gates and Tiger Global, making it the best-funded private fusion business.
Silicon Valley giants like Google have been hunting for new sources of clean energy as they seek to power AI data centre infrastructure. The race to build more powerful AI tools requires vast computing power from thousands of energy-intensive processors.
A breakthrough in nuclear fusion would create a source of practically limitless clean energy, which could fuel the AI boom.
Commonwealth, a spin-out from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is building a tokamak – a type of fusion reactor – that it calls “Sparc”.
It is planning to build power plants that can each generate 400MW of power, roughly the same as a typical natural gas plant, powering 280,000 homes.
‘The world wants fusion’
Scientists have spent decades attempting to crack fusion power, which mirrors the nuclear reactions that take place at the centre of the sun.
Unlike nuclear fission, where atoms are split to release energy, fusion sees atoms forced together.
Bob Mumgaard, Commonwealth’s chief executive, said the deal with Google was a “strong signal that the world wants fusion” and that it would support “bringing fusion power to the grid at scale”.
Despite this, high-profile projects attempting to demonstrate the technology, such as ITER in France, have been long-delayed and are running billions of pounds over budget.
While the financial terms of Google’s deal were not disclosed, Axios reported earlier this year that Commonwealth was in the process of raising as much as $1bn.
It is not the first time a tech company has agreed to buy as-yet unproven fusion power. Microsoft previously agreed to buy fusion power from US start-up Helion, which is backed by OpenAI founder Sam Altman. Helion is aiming to have a fusion plant by 2028.
Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook have all been in talks over nuclear power deals.
Microsoft agreed to re-open a nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania to power its AI technology.
Facebook also signed a deal that saved a nuclear plant in Illinois from closure. As well as conventional nuclear power, it has been considering investments in a new wave of advanced “small modular reactors”.
Story ContinuesLast week, the UK announced £2.5bn of funding over the next five years to develop fusion power.
As part of Labour’s Industrial Strategy, the UK will work on building a tokamak prototype by 2040.
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