Google CEO Sundar Pichai hinted that the tech giant may turn to different energies such as nuclear reactors to power its massive data centers.In a recent interview, CEO Pichai said that Google is investing in clean energy technologies such as solar power and evaluating technologies such as modular nuclear reactors.
Google could use nuclear reactors for carbon-free data center
This step seems in line with Google’s commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions across all its operations by 2030. Retrofitting data centers, which require large amounts of electricity to run servers, is a major challenge in achieving this goal.
Nuclear energy can be part of the solution because of its ability to continuously produce base-load power without carbon emissions. Google will use nuclear energy to power its major AI centers.
But the tech giant is not the only company considering this solution. Amazon and Microsoft have also recently made deals to buy nuclear-generated electricity for their data centers. In March, Amazon decided to buy electricity from a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.
This year, Microsoft signed a 20-year contract to buy electricity from the soon-to-be restarted Three Mile Island reactor, also in Pennsylvania.
Modular nuclear reactor technology could be particularly suitable for data center applications. According to experts, they could be built close to areas that need a lot of electricity to avoid transmission losses.
While the nuclear deals are not yet finalized, they are an indication that Google is seriously considering carbon-free options to power its cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence.
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