TVA, Google and Kairos Power to collaborate through nuclear PPA

The Tennessee Valley Authority, Google, and nuclear reactor developer Kairos Power have announced agreements to collaborate on the development of a new small modular nuclear power plant in Tennessee, designed to provide power to the TVA grid to support Google data centers in Tennessee and Alabama.

Congress created the TVA in 1933 as a public power provider assigned to improve living standards. TVA cites energy, environmental stewardship, and economic development as three essential components of how it achieves its mission.

Kairos Power is a nuclear technology, engineering and manufacturing company focused on commercializing a fluoride salt-cooled high-temperature reactor. Its Hermes demonstration small modular nuclear reactor is the first non-water-cooled reactor to be approved for construction in the U.S. in over 50 years. Construction on the Hermes project commenced last year.

Technology companies, data center operators, and businesses involved with artificial intelligence (AI) are investing heavily to secure energy supplies for their operations. New demands for electricity are driving existing powerplants to stay in operation, or even restart after being mothballed like the Three Mile Island nuclear plant whose owner proposes to resume fission to power a Microsoft data center. 

These same trends are also driving proposals to site new power plants, including small modular reactors (SMR). In October 2024, Google announced a collaboration with Kairos Power to deploy up to 500 MW of new nuclear power from SMRs to support Google's tech operations.

Interest in using SMRs to power data centers continues. On August 18, Google, Kairos Power, and TVA announced a new power purchase agreement between Kairos and TVA, under which Kairos will increase the output of its Hermes 2 plant from 28 to 50 MW. Google will receive the clean energy attributes from the plant. According to TVA, it is the "the first U.S. utility to sign a PPA to buy electricity from an advanced, GEN IV reactor".

Pumped storage hydro in Maine

Could a large pumped storage hydroelectric facility be developed in Maine? A company named Western Maine Energy Storage, LLC has applied to federal hydropower regulators for a preliminary permit to evaluate the potential development of a 500 megawatt pumped storage facility above the Androscoggin River in the Dixfield area.

Historically electricity has been easier to generate than to store. Hydropower typically harvests energy from water flowing or falling downhill under gravity's influence. If water in a hydroelectric system can be pumped back uphill, it can be stored in an upper reservoir and then reused to generate additional electricity. This technology was first used in Europe in the late nineteenth century, and remains the dominant form of electric energy storage today. Pumped storage hydropower facilities presently account for nearly all of the utility-scale energy storage capacity in the U.S.: about 96% as recently as 2023.

Modern pumped storage hydropower plants typically move water between an upper reservoir and a lower reservoir, using lower-cost electricity for the uphill pumping phase of the cycle. Pumping water uphill to recharge an upper reservoir takes energy, but most of this energy can be recovered on demand by allowing the water to flow back downhill through the generators. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, several dozen pumped storage projects are constructed and in operation in the U.S., with a total installed capacity of over 16,500 megawatts.

As part of the ongoing energy transition, many policymakers and investors are focused on technologies like battery energy storage, but pumped storage hydropower has a long track record of success -- and significant potential for growth. Most pumped storage generators in the U.S. were built during the 1970s, but a 2016 report by the U.S. Department of Energy found that the US could add 36 gigawatts of pumped storage by 2050.

Western Maine Energy Storage's application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission describes a proposed project located primarily in Dixfield, Maine (with a portion in the adjacent town of Canton). The upper reservoir would be located just below the crest of Colonel Holman Mountain; the lower reservoir would be in the adjacent Ludden Brook watershed. The project would draw its initial fill water from the Androscoggin River at a site near the Dixfield-Canton boundary (delivered via a temporary 2-mile pipe), but would then shift to closed-loop operation (using groundwater wells for reservoir level maintenance). The project would have about 500 MW of generating capacity (two units of about 200-250 MW each). The applicant says it expects to spend about $6 million studying the project’s feasibility if FERC grants it a 48-month preliminary permit. 

Maine is not presently home to any pumped storage hydropower projects, but about 90 years ago the Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project was proposed with features including pumped storage reservoirs and generators. The Quoddy project would have used tidal energy and pumping to transfer water uphill, to produce sustainable renewable energy. The project received significant support from President Franklin D. Roosevelt along with millions of dollars in funding from Congress, but was never completed. To learn more about the historic Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project, read the book Moondoggle: Franklin Roosevelt and the Fight for Tidal-Electric Power at Passamaquoddy Bay by Mark C. Borton.

US tariffs on Canadian energy imports

President Trump has issued a series of executive orders, including orders imposing tariffs or duties on articles imported from Canada, and declaring a national energy emergency.

Under Section 2 of the Imposing Duties executive order, most imports from Canada are subject to a general 25% tariff . However, Section 2(b) applies a lesser 10% tariff to “energy or energy resources" as defined in section 8 of Executive Order 14156 of January 20, 2025 (Declaring a National Energy Emergency), and related Federal Register notices.

In turn, section 8 of the Declaring a National Energy Emergency executive order defines “energy” or “energy resources” to include:

• crude oil
• natural gas
• lease condensates
• natural gas liquids
• refined petroleum products
• uranium
• coal
• biofuels
• geothermal heat
• the kinetic movement of flowing water
• critical minerals, as defined by 30 U.S.C. 1606 (a)(3).

These articles are subject to a 10 percent tariff pursuant to the Imposing Duties order. 

New England's regional energy market operator, ISO New England, issued a statement shortly after the tariffs took effect. According to the statement, ISO-NE is seeking guidance from the administration on what role it will have in implementing these tariffs, but "cannot speculate on what, if any, impact these actions will have on wholesale electricity prices or the level of imports into the region." 

ISO-NE also noted that in 2024, Canadian imports powered about 9 percent of New England's grid-served net energy for load.