Google Agrees To Help Pay For Georgia Nuclear Upgrades In Deal Utility Says Would Protect Other Customers

Google agreed to help pay for upgrades that would increase the output of Georgia’s older nuclear reactors under a deal filed with state regulators Monday.

Georgia Power, the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company, filed the agreement with the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC), which must approve it before it takes effect, the utility said in a Monday press release.

Georgia Power projected that Google’s subscription would yield about $900 million in benefits for its customers over the life of the reactors, according to its release. The upgrades to Georgia Power’s share of Vogtle Units 1 and 2 near Waynesboro and Hatch Units 1 and 2 near Baxley would add about 96 megawatts of capacity.

The projects, called uprates, involve replacing or modifying major plant equipment so a reactor can be licensed to run at a higher power level and generate more electricity, according to the release.

Google would sign up for a new rate schedule called the Nuclear Uprate tariff and receive zero-emission credits that let it count the new nuclear generation as carbon-free, the release stated. The company would pay extra for that power, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Georgia Power said in the release that the arrangement would help keep the additional costs of the upgrade work from falling on customers who do not take part in the program.

Private industry is increasingly helping to get more power out of the nation’s existing reactors, Jake Kincer, senior program manager for the nuclear program at ClearPath, a conservative clean energy policy group, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview.

“This is not actually even the first time this has happened,” he said, pointing to deals Meta signed with Vistra and Constellation and to Microsoft’s support for restarting the Crane Clean Energy Center, formerly Three Mile Island Unit 1, in Pennsylvania.

He noted that the Georgia agreement and the Crane restart each involve “a tech company helping to underwrite the economics of getting more out of our existing fleet.”

Upgrades like Georgia’s “are really the fastest way to get nuclear onto the grid,” Kincer added, noting that such projects can be finished within months or a couple of years, far sooner than a new plant.

“We appreciate Google’s continued leadership in this space and partnership in developing this program, which we see as the latest example of how large-load growth can benefit all electric customers,” Aaron Mitchell, senior vice president of strategic growth for Georgia Power, said in the release.

“This collaboration with Georgia Power ensures that digital infrastructure growth goes hand-in-hand with positive local impact, helping to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in direct customer benefits and supporting a more affordable, clean, and reliable energy system for all Georgia residents,” Lucia Tian, director of advanced energy technologies at Google, said in the release.

Google, Georgia Power and the PSC did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

Critics of data center growth have warned that it could drive up electricity bills, the Journal-Constitution reported.

“Georgia Power and Google should be commended for agreeing to this clever, innovative approach to squeeze more power out of existing baseload infrastructure at no cost to the rate payers,” David Blackmon, an energy analyst and writer told the DCNF. “It’s more evidence that the billionaire-funded attack narratives on data center expansion are overblown and out of line with reality.”

Kincer, the ClearPath program manager, cited a Nuclear Energy Institute survey estimating that uprates across the U.S. fleet could add about five gigawatts within a decade. He compared that amount with the output of five large nuclear plants or about a dozen gas plants.

“It’s a really significant amount of power,” he said, adding that an Idaho National Laboratory study put the technical potential for uprates closer to 17 gigawatts.

Georgia Power filed the new tariff under Docket 44280 and separately asked the commission to approve uprates at both Hatch reactors in Docket 56002.

The commission approved upgrades to Vogtle Units 1 and 2 in July 2025 as part of Georgia Power’s long-term Integrated Resource Plan, allowing those reactors to deliver 54 more megawatts. That approval also let the company begin early planning and licensing work toward uprates at Hatch.

Georgia Power projected at the time that demand on its system would grow by about 8,500 megawatts over six years.

Georgia Power expects state and federal tax credits, along with a Department of Energy loan guarantee still awaiting approval, to cover part of the upgrade costs, the Journal-Constitution reported.

Kincer credited federal tax credits and loan guarantees, along with changes meant to make Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reviews faster and more predictable, for supporting projects like Georgia’s.

“This is really a good example of where good policy is meeting private industry demand at the right time,” he said. “I don’t think that one individual thing would make this happen on its own.”

The public version of the filing redacts the entire subscription agreement, World Nuclear News reported.

Kincer said a cost overrun is unlikely because the expense of upgrading an existing reactor is well understood. Who would pay for one would depend on the terms of each deal, he said.

He described uprates as “actually relatively routine” and “something that the NRC is well versed in and very prepared to regulate.”

“If these companies need the power, then they should be able to pay for it,” Kincer said, calling deals in which technology companies help cover the cost of upgrading reactors “a very logical way to do that.”

“Firm power on the grid quickly is going to be good for everybody,” he emphasized, crediting bipartisan support in Congress and backing from the administration “even going back to the first Trump administration.”

Nuclear plants produced more than 25% of the energy generated in Georgia in 2025, and Georgia Power serves 2.8 million customers in the state, according to the release.