Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)

A Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is a long-term contract in which an energy buyer agrees to purchase electricity from a generator at a fixed or structured price over a defined period (typically 15–25 years). For the AI buildout, PPAs are the mechanism by which hyperscalers lock in reliable, carbon-free power at predictable prices — insulating them from spot-market volatility while providing the financing certainty that enables large capital projects (nuclear restarts, SMR construction).

The structure matters enormously. A financial PPA (virtual PPA / VPPA) hedges electricity costs but delivers no actual electrons — the buyer still takes power from the grid and gets renewable energy credits. A physical PPA actually delivers the contracted electrons. Hyperscalers with 24/7 reliability requirements are increasingly demanding physical PPAs from always-on sources (nuclear, gas), not virtual PPAs from intermittent renewables.

The nuclear PPA wave that emerged in 2023-2026 is qualitatively different from the 2010-2020 renewable PPA wave: longer terms (20 years vs 10-15), higher prices ($80-120/MWh vs $30-45/MWh for solar), and paired with co-location agreements or direct datacenter siting to minimize transmission costs and losses.

Key Claims

• 13 nuclear datacenter deals announced as of May 2026, committing 9.8 GW of nuclear capacity. Evidence: strong (SMRIntel nuclear data center deals tracker)
• Every major hyperscaler has signed at least one nuclear PPA. Evidence: strong (press releases: Microsoft/Constellation, Amazon/Talen, Google/Kairos, Meta/Constellation)
• Corporate renewable PPAs hit 46 GW globally in 2024, with hyperscalers = 76%. Evidence: strong (South Pole 2026 PPA Buyers Guide)
• Solar PPA prices: $30–45/MWh (US 2025); nuclear PPAs estimated $80–120/MWh — premium reflects 24/7 reliability. Evidence: moderate
• Microsoft signed a 20-year PPA with Constellation for all output from Crane Clean Energy Center (835 MW) — first nuclear restart driven by tech demand. Evidence: strong (Utility Dive, Bloomberg)
• Vistra signed 20-yr PPA with AWS for 1,200 MW at Comanche Peak; Meta for ~2,600 MW at PJM nuclear sites. Evidence: strong (Vistra Q1 2026 earnings release)
• Constellation↔Microsoft (Sep 2023): 20-year PPA to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1 (Pennsylvania) — the anchor deal of the procurement rush. Evidence: moderate (multi-source synthesis, hyperscaler-nuclear-procurement)
• Google↔Kairos Power (Aug 2025) was the first corporate SMR PPA: Hermes 2 (Oak Ridge) supplying 50 MW by 2030, scaling to 500 MW. Evidence: moderate (multi-source synthesis, hyperscaler-nuclear-procurement)
• Meta↔Vistra/Oklo/TerraPower (2026): up to 6.6 GW of nuclear by 2035 — spanning Vistra existing plants (2.2 GW + 433 MW upgrades, 8-yr window), Oklo (1.2 GW, first reactors ~2030), and TerraPower (2.6 GW + 1.2 GW storage, two units online as soon as 2032). Neither Oklo nor TerraPower holds NRC construction permits yet. Evidence: weak (single news item, Latitude Media)
• The three procurement modes hyperscalers use: (1) restart existing plants, (2) first corporate SMR PPAs, (3) multi-GW advanced-reactor development deals. Evidence: moderate (multi-source synthesis, hyperscaler-nuclear-procurement)

Major Announced Nuclear Deals (as of June 2026)

Meta's Vistra + Oklo + TerraPower legs together form the up-to-6.6 GW-by-2035 deal for the Prometheus supercluster (New Albany, OH). Latitude Media.

Open Questions

• What price is being paid in the nuclear PPAs? (Most are confidential; estimates range $80-120/MWh)
• How does FERC's interconnection reform affect whether nuclear PPA power can reach co-located or nearby datacenters?
• If SMR construction is delayed, do the Google/Amazon SMR contracts trigger termination clauses?
• Will European hyperscalers (Microsoft, Google EU) replicate the US nuclear PPA model?

Related Concepts

• Conventional Nuclear & Restarts — where the power comes from
• Datacenter Power Demand — the demand side driving the deals
• Baseload vs Intermittent — why nuclear preferred over renewables for these contracts

Changelog

• 2026-06-15 — Initial compilation from web research (SMRIntel, South Pole, Build.inc, press releases)
• 2026-06-24 — Compiled new sources (meta-66gw-nuclear-deal, hyperscaler-nuclear-procurement)