Corporate nuclear power offers solicited

Tech company Meta Platforms Inc. has issued a request for proposals "to identify nuclear energy developers to help us meet our AI innovation and sustainability objectives — targeting 1-4 gigawatts (GW) of new nuclear generation capacity in the U.S."

In a statement on its sustainability blog, Meta expressed its views that nuclear power would help the company meet its objectives relating to both artificial intelligence and sustainability:

... we believe that nuclear energy can help provide firm, baseload power to support the growth needs of the electric grids that power both our data centers (the physical infrastructure on which Meta’s platforms operate) as well as the communities around them. ... At Meta, we believe nuclear energy will play a pivotal role in the transition to a cleaner, more reliable, and diversified electric grid.

Citing its experience helping the renewable energy industry develop, Meta says it is taking a similar approach to nuclear power: 

When we began engaging with the renewable energy industry more than a decade ago, the industry was scaling. Our early engagement with developers of renewable energy allowed Meta to design contracts that enable both Meta and our developer partners to achieve our respective goals. We want to work creatively with developers to structure an agreement that will similarly enable development of nuclear technology.

At the same time, Meta notes that nuclear power's needs are somewhat different from those of renewable projects, due to key technological, economic, and regulatory differences: 

Compared to renewable energy projects that we continue to invest in, such as solar and wind, nuclear energy projects are more capital intensive, take longer to develop, are subject to more regulatory requirements, and have a longer expected operational life. These differences mean we need to engage nuclear energy projects earlier in their development lifecycle and consider their operational requirements when designing a contract. And, as scaling deployments of nuclear technology offers the best chance of rapidly reducing cost, engaging with a partner across projects and locations will allow us to ensure that we can deploy strategically. An RFP process will allow us to approach these projects thoroughly and thoughtfully with these considerations in mind.

Meta's RFP is not directly available to the public. Instead, Meta's blog directs interested parties to complete a qualification intake form by January 3, 2025, with initial RFP proposals due on February 7. Meta says it will screen interested parties for their qualifications, including "developers with strong community engagement, development, and permitting, and execution expertise that have development opportunities for new nuclear energy resources – either Small Modular Reactors (SMR) or larger nuclear reactors." Meta says it will also require interested parties to execute a non-disclosure agreement before receiving Meta's Nuclear RFP.

Other tech companies are similarly pursuing nuclear energy projects to power datacenters, as are some utilities. Nuclear power is drawing renewed interest from other sectors too, like the military and even industrial manufacturers.

New England passes its 100th duck curve day of 2024

For the 100th time this year, demand for electricity from New England's power grid was lower at midday than overnight, a sign of significant growth in behind-the-meter solar photovoltaic power in recent years. Until 2018, this phenomenon -- called the "duck curve" due to the shape of graphs of demand -- had never occurred. But according to the region's grid operator, duck curve days will likely continue to recur.

ISO New England says that April 21, 2018 was the first day when "New Englanders used less grid electricity midday than while they were sleeping". Nearly two years later, by the spring of 2020, the duck curve phenomenon had appeared on seven days. By the end of 2021, it had occurred a total of 35 times.

The duck curve phenomenon has since gone from rare to common. The grid operator says there were "45 times in 2022 when demand for grid electricity was lowest during the day instead of at night." In 2023, New England experienced 73 duck curve days. Last year the region also set a new low for midday demand, thanks to mild temperatures, a holiday, and continued growth of behind-the-meter solar.

The duck curve trend has continued to spread. According to ISO-NE, "the region recorded its 100th 'duck curve' day of 2024 on Monday, November 25."

Graph from ISO-NE. Available at 100th ‘duck curve’ day marks New England solar power milestone - ISO Newswire

So far this year, the New England grid has also set a new record low for midday demand. 

The grid operator notes:

Duck curve days are becoming more frequent as more New England homeowners and businesses install solar power systems. But duck curves are not disruptive from a grid operations perspective. Staff in the ISO’s control room keep the entire system in balance by instructing the region’s other energy resources to decrease production when BTM PV output is high, and to increase production when BTM PV output is low. 

At the same time, this level of solar penetration requires flexibility from "the region's other energy resources", which must be technically capable of ramping up and down to follow load, as well as economically capable of sustaining commercial operations.