Google will invest at least €13 billion ($15.1 billion) in Finnish AI infrastructure over 2027 and 2028 and has signed a 22-year power purchase agreement with Fortum for up to 50% of the output from the Loviisa nuclear plant, Google’s first nuclear power contract outside the United States, the companies said Wednesday.
The Fortum agreement funds a life-extension and upgrade program that keeps Loviisa running through 2050. Without it, the plant, which supplies about 10% of Finland’s electricity and employs nearly 600 people, would have had to shut down after 2030, Fortum said. Fortum shares rose 10% within hours of the announcement.
The buildout adds capacity at Google’s existing Hamina data center campus and includes three new sites in Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala. This is Google’s largest single investment in Europe, and part of Alphabet’s global 2026 capital spending plan of $195-$205 billion. Construction, running through 2027 and 2028, is projected to add €3.6 billion annually to Finland’s GDP and support more than 37,000 jobs, about 16,000 of them in construction. Google estimates 7,000 permanent jobs once the sites are operational.
Alphabet Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat called the Finland deal “a really important cornerstone” to the company’s AI buildout. Google separately signed onshore wind contracts adding 629 megawatts of capacity and a 94-megawatt battery system near Kajaani, due online in late 2027.
Climate Power’s Data Center Air Pollution Tracker scored Google 61 out of 100 on clean-energy use in August, tied with Meta. Google, Amazon and Microsoft’s combined data center operations produced 19 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent last year, output comparable to a third of France’s annual emissions.
Google’s contract joins two other corporate nuclear power deals in the U.S.: Microsoft’s 20-year, 835-megawatt agreement with Constellation Energy to restart Three Mile Island Unit 1, and Amazon’s 1,920-megawatt supply deal with Talen Energy at the Susquehanna plant.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Google-Bets-13-Billion-on-Finland-to-Power-AI-Boom-With-Nuclear-Energy.amp.html
