French utility EDF is in discussions with three data center providers about supplying power for up to three 1GW data center projects in France.
Reuters reported the news this week, citing an executive at the energy giant. Further details weren't shared.
EDF is the world's largest nuclear power producer. Over the past year, nuclear power has gained increasing traction within the data center sector as a potential source of low-carbon baseload power.
In October, EDF launched Project Giga to meet the growing energy demand from artificial intelligence data centers. The project plans to leverage EDF’s land and grid connections to supply low-carbon power to major hyperscalers such as Microsoft and Google.
EDF's nuclear output in October 2024 amounted to 30.0TWh, up 1.7TWh compared to the same period in 2023. Since the beginning of the year, annual cumulative production has been 292.0TWh, up 30.7TWh compared to 2023.
Despite increasing interest within the European market, the US has dominated the deal flow for nuclear procurement, with a spate of deals within the traditional nuclear and small modular reactor sectors (SMR).
In September, Microsoft agreed to a 20-year PPA with Constellation Energy to acquire 100 percent of Pennsylvania's revived Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
In March, Rival AWS acquired Talen Energy’s data center campus next to the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania for $650 million.
In the SMR sector, AWS signed three agreements to facilitate the deployment of SMRs across its business operations. These included agreements with Energy Northwest and Dominion Energy and a direct investment in SMR firm X-energy.
A week earlier, Google announced a 500MW deal with SMR provider Kairos Power. The firm expects the first of the six to seven reactors under the agreement to come online in 2030.
