Oracle would take up to a fifth of a Wisconsin nuclear plant’s output for its AI campus
We Energies and Oracle have agreed that Oracle will subscribe to between 10 and 20 percent of the electricity from the Point Beach nuclear plant. State regulators still have to approve it.
We Energies and Oracle announced an agreement on October 2 under which Oracle would subscribe to between 10 and 20 percent of the electricity generated at the Point Beach Nuclear Plant. The power is meant for Project Lighthouse, the data center campus in Port Washington, Wisconsin, that Oracle is developing with OpenAI.
Point Beach sits on Lake Michigan near Two Rivers and is Wisconsin’s only operating nuclear plant. NextEra Energy owns it, and We Energies buys most of its output. The utility recently agreed to keep buying roughly 86 percent of the plant’s electricity for another 20 years.
We Energies says the arrangement could save its other customers about $300 million in fuel costs over five years. It needs approval from Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission. On the same day, the utility asked permission to build a new natural gas plant at its Fox Energy Center.
Why it matters
A data center company is tying its largest project to a specific, steady, carbon-free plant and paying for the privilege. That is a step from simply plugging into the grid toward arranging its own supply.
Reality check
No new nuclear power is created here. The plant already runs, so the deal reassigns existing power and does not add any, and the utility filed for a new gas plant the same day. The report does not say whether the electricity would flow directly to the campus.
Source Wisconsin Watch