Google has signed a deal with US utility Georgia Power, under which the hyperscaler will support power uprates at two of the Southern Co. subsidiary’s nuclear power plants.

According to reports, the uprate will add 96MW of power generation capacity to the wider Georgia grid. The two plants selected for uprates are Plant Vogtle, a 4.5-4.8GW nuclear plant in Burke County, near Waynesboro, Georgia, and Plant Hatch, a 1.84GW site near Baxley, Georgia. Georgia Power owns both sites, and Southern Nuclear, a sister company owned by Southern Co., manages operations.

The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) must approve the uprates before they can be completed. Georgia Power filed for approval earlier this week, asking the PSC to approve a new nuclear uprate tariff structure and an extended power uprate (EPU) for Units 1 and 2 at Hatch. An EPU for Units 1 and 2 at the Vogtle plant was approved last year as part of Georgia Power’s 2025 Integrated Resource Plan.

Under the terms of the agreement, Google, through a subscription-based program, will adhere to the new tariff structure and receive low-carbon credits tied to the carbon-free attributes of the new capacity added to the plant as part of the uprates.

“Many of our large customers have specific clean energy goals, and we continue to work with the Georgia PSC to create programs that not only help them meet their goals, but align with our Customer Protection Pledge, enhancing the reliability and resiliency of the power grid and creating savings for all customers,” said Aaron Mitchell, senior vice president of strategic growth for Georgia Power.

“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.”

“Google data centers are long-term investments in the communities we call home, catalyzing local economic development and accelerating clean energy deployment. They also serve as a proof point for how we can unlock the significant opportunity to bring online new nuclear power through expanding the capacity of the existing nuclear fleet,” added Lucia Tian, director, advanced energy technologies, at Google.

According to Georgia Power, the uprates will be achieved through modifying the plant's equipment, such as turbines, pumps, motors, and cooling systems. The utility claims this will enable the nuclear reactors to operate at higher licensed thermal power levels, allowing for higher electrical power output.

The agreement is Google's latest nuclear deal. Earlier this month, it signed its first international nuclear agreement, inking a 22-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Fortum in Loviisa, Finland.

Before this, in October, the company signed a PPA with NextEra Energy to offtake power from the 615MW Duane Arnold Energy Center in Palo, Iowa.

Google has also signed a 200MW PPA with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a nuclear fusion firm, a 50MW PPA with small modular reactor firm Kairos Power, and a strategic agreement with Elementl Power to develop three nuclear energy projects in the US.