960 megawatts straight from a reactor
In March 2024 AWS bought the Cumulus data centre campus beside the Susquehanna nuclear plant from Talen Energy for 650 million dollars, and signed an agreement with it for up to 960 MW of carbon-free power. The agreement runs for 18 years and raises the commitment in 120 MW steps; AWS may stop at 480.
Why it matters
Until then the large operators bought electricity the way everyone does: from the grid, at a tariff, in a connection queue. Here the data centre was wired to the generator directly, bypassing the public network. That turned part of a nuclear unit into one buyer's resource and raised the question the federal regulator answered eight months later.
The sum splits in two: 350 million at closing and 300 million held in escrow until construction milestones were met. They were met in August 2024 and the remainder was paid. The agreement carries two ten-year extension options at the buyer's discretion. The existing interconnection agreement lets the plant withhold up to 300 MW from the grid, and it was on those 300 that the first phases of the campus were built. What the record does not claim. The ceiling of the agreement is 960 MW; 480 is the buyer's right to cap its own commitment, not a limit on supply, and the two must not be confused. Neither filing gives the acreage of the campus or the capacity of the plant itself.