Google plans to expand its data center in Alabama worth $1.5 billion


Plans to expand Google’s data center in Jackson County, Alabama, are underway with a $1.5 billion investment by the company. Google says energy costs will be covered by the company and nuclear-powered operations, eventually.

Construction of the expansion will last between 2026 and 2027 at a cost of $1.5 billion. Google says that all “power and infrastructure” will be funded by the company in accordance with the US government’s Taxpayer Protection Commitment. Meeting that commitment means Google would need to plan so that local electricity costs do not increase as a result of increased activity at Google’s Jackson County data center.

Google notes that the expansion will eventually be powered by nuclear power through a partnership established between Google, Kairos and TVA in 2025. The deal provides Google with up to 50 megawatts of clean energy for data centers in Alabama and Tennessee. That deal would allow Google to draw power from a dedicated grid rather than relying on local energy sources that can drive demand.

It doesn’t appear that the pipeline has opened yet, as Google notes that it has contracted with TVA to bring more than 300 MV of “new generation capacity to the Tennessee Valley region” for the time being. It says it is currently taking steps to reduce energy use during peak demand hours until nuclear power becomes an option.

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Initial estimates places the completion of the Kairos Power Station sometime in 2035.

Google says:

In line with its support for the White House Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Google will pay for 100% of the energy it uses. When Google builds new data centers, including its expansion in Jackson County, it will also cover infrastructure costs directly generated by its operations.

The campus began operations in 2019 and is located on the site of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s retired Widows Creek coal plant. Construction at this site allowed Google to reuse existing power lines and other infrastructure to improve data center reliability and add clean energy to the grid.

To date, Google has contracted to bring more than 300 MW of new generation capacity to the Tennessee Valley region. In 2025, Google, Kairos Power and TVA announced a historic partnership to supply up to 50 megawatts of advanced nuclear power to Google data centers in Tennessee and Alabama. Beyond bringing new clean energy to the grid, Google also acts as a flexible partner to TVA, using data center demand response to reduce energy use during peak demand hours and support grid stability during extreme weather events.

Google’s data center in Jackson County has been online since 2019 and was originally built in a repurposed coal plant. As Google’s commitment to generative and agent AI models in Android and other products increases, processing power It is increasingly necessary to obtain profitability from more capable AI models.

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