Equinix looks to next-gen nuclear to power AI-ready data centres in Europe

Data centre operator Equinix has announced new next-gen nuclear power agreements to power data centres in Europe.

Following the 2024 agreement to procure 500MW of energy from Oklo’s Aurora powerhouse fast fission reactors to power its data centres, Equinix is again looking to advanced nuclear with three new agreements and a fourth for fuel cells.

In a letter of intent with Amsterdam-based nuclear project developer ULC-Energy, Equinix has secured a PPA for up to 250MW from Rolls-Royce SMRs to power data centres in the Netherlands.

Rolls-Royce SMR is developing a 470MWe light water small modular reactor with the first deployment ca 2030 and was selected as the preferred technology provider by ULC-Energy in 2022.

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Equinix also has announced a pre-order power agreement with Stellaria for 500MW of power from its Stellarium liquid core reactors to expand data centres across Europe.

Stellaria, incubated by Schneider Electric and the French Atomic Energy Agency (CEA), offers the first molten salt ‘breed and burn’ reactor that breeds 100% of its liquid fissile fuel inside the reactor without refuelling, while recycling spent fuels and burning long lived waste. The target date is 2035.

In the third nuclear deal, Equinix has concluded a preorder agreement with California-based Radiant Nuclear for the purchase of 20 of its Kaleidos microreactors.

These 1MW units currently in development and planned for testing in 2026 are intended as portable, zero emissions power sources that can be transported anywhere to provide backup power.

Alongside these nuclear deals, Equinix also has an agreement with Bloom Energy to expand its deployment of solid-oxide fuel cells to more than 100MW for onsite power generation at over 19 data centres in six states in the US.

With these Equinix aims to avoid 285,000Mt of CO2 emissions and 1.4 trillion l of embedded water use, according to a statement.

"Access to round-the-clock electricity is critical to support the infrastructure that powers everything from AI-driven drug discovery to cloud-based video streaming," said Raouf Abdel, executive vice president of Global Operations at Equinix.

"As energy demand increases, we believe we have an opportunity and responsibility to support the development of reliable, sustainable, scalable energy infrastructure that can support our collective future. By working with our energy partners, we believe we can support the energy needs of our customers and communities around the world by helping to strengthen the grid and investing in new energy sources."