Google Signed a 22-Year Nuclear Deal for Its Finnish AI Expansion
Google plans to invest at least €13 billion in Finnish AI infrastructure and signed a 22-year agreement covering up to half of Fortum’s Loviisa nuclear capacity. The contract supports plant upgrades, but the data centres are unbuilt and their total electricity and water requirements remain undisclosed.
Google has tied its largest European investment to a long-term electricity contract: the company plans to spend at least €13 billion on Finnish AI infrastructure while buying up to half the capacity of Fortum's Loviisa nuclear plant during its extended operating life.
The 30-second summary
- What happened? Google announced data-centre and supporting infrastructure investments in four Finnish locations for 2027 and 2028, alongside a 22-year nuclear power purchase agreement with Fortum.
- Why does it matter? The contract gives an existing nuclear plant predictable revenue for upgrades and shows how AI companies are securing electricity years in advance.
- What is the catch? The new data centres are not operating, their total electricity demand is undisclosed, and several plant investments still await final decisions.
KEY NUMBER
22 years: the power agreement begins at a smaller level in 2028 and is scheduled to cover up to 50% of Loviisa's capacity from 2030 through 2049.
What Google and Fortum signed
The €13 billion programme covers data centres and related infrastructure in Hamina, Muhos, Vaala and Kajaani. Reuters reports that three new centres will be developed in northern Finland, while Google will continue expanding around its existing Hamina operation.
The more concrete energy component is a power purchase agreement, or PPA. According to Fortum's stock-exchange disclosure, purchases start with smaller capacity in 2028 and rise to as much as half of the two-reactor Loviisa plant's capacity for 2030 to 2049. The plant currently supplies roughly 8 terawatt-hours a year, about 10% of Finland's electricity.
Why an old plant matters to new AI systems
AI data centres need large amounts of electricity around the clock. A long contract can make costs more predictable for Google and give Fortum the revenue confidence to continue Loviisa's approximately €1 billion lifetime-extension programme. The Finnish government already licensed the reactors to operate through 2050, but Fortum says about €700 million of related capital spending still awaits investment decisions.
The agreement is expected to support another 10-megawatt increase in plant output, in addition to a previously planned 38-megawatt turbine upgrade. Separately, Fortum will optimize a 94-megawatt battery system contracted beside Google's planned Kajaani data centre.
A contract is not a private cable
The PPA does not mean that every electron consumed by a Google server travels directly from Loviisa. Electricity enters Finland's grid, while the contract links payment and capacity over time. That distinction matters because the wider grid still has to balance the data centres' demand at every moment.
NewTqnia has covered both Europe's expansion of public AI computing and public concern about hyperscale data-centre demand. The Finnish deal addresses part of that tension by pairing computing investment with long-lived low-carbon generation and grid storage, although it does not disclose the complete energy balance.
Before we call the infrastructure secured
- The €13 billion is planned spending for 2027 and 2028, not completed infrastructure.
- Google has not disclosed the centres' server capacity, peak electricity demand, water use or independent efficiency estimates.
- The agreement preserves existing nuclear generation and enables modest uprates; it is not a newly built reactor.
- Fortum says most lifetime-extension projects and spending decisions remain unfinished.
- Plans to explore additional nuclear and renewable capacity are covered by a memorandum of understanding, not construction approvals.
What happens next
Initial nuclear purchases are due to start in 2028, when the planned turbine upgrade should also enter service. The test will be whether new generation, batteries and grid improvements arrive alongside the data centres rather than after demand rises. Until Google publishes site-level power figures, the contract shows financial commitment more clearly than it shows the final environmental footprint.
Verified topics and entities
Sources and citations4 sources
External references used to support the reporting in this article.
Published by
NewTqnia Energy Desk
An institutional editorial team within NewTqnia
