So what we're really actually doing here is picking up from a conversation we had last year, and it will show about how much has changed since then. At that time, I think you all started to talk, and I think actually Google and NextEra have been doing some things together. Maybe we should just pick up the conversation from last year. What are you doing together?
Well, we're doing quite a bit together. First of all, it's great to be here with you, Dan, with all of you. And it's an important topic for today, defining everything that we're all doing. I'll start on one and let John talk about the other.
Very excited with respect to the work we're doing together on nuclear. We are reopening the Duane Arnold facility in Iowa. I think it's an extraordinary opportunity to bring together the opportunity to accelerate bringing nuclear online. It adds jobs. And so that's one area.
And a lot of other exciting things. We're working on a joint development agreement together with Google where we're looking at other potential sites, advanced nuclear collaboration where we're looking to bring forward SMRs at different of our facilities together with Google. And another piece that I'm really, really excited about is at NextEra we are launching a project that we call Rewire. And Rewire is the opportunity to redefine and reimagine every business that we have. But what we're doing it for a distinct purpose, and that is to layer AI solutions on top of what we're doing. And so we have brought Google in as a strategic partner with us. And so we're using Rewire as a project development platform where we are designing AI tools together with Google and our team that not only will transform the way NextEra generates, transmits, and distributes electricity, but also are tools that we'll be able to take to the marketplace to other utilities, cooperatives, municipalities, not only domestically, but globally. So something we're very much excited about and we're kind of putting our money where our mouth is and adopting AI inside the company and really trying to push it forward for the sector.
And I wanted John to comment on that because very much like Mike said in the prior session, John and I is about a lot more than booking.
You notice he kept very appreciative. But it's more than booking your travel as we're doing with NextEra. What's extraordinary is the way you can reimagine all elements of your business and how you can open new markets, how you can get substantial operating leverage, how you can drive growth. And I know we spoke about that last year and I think the pace of innovation has been extraordinary. This partnership will unlock that for us and the ability to work with so many others.
Right. Well, let's talk for a moment about Duane Arnold. Now you may wonder why they talk about Duane Arnold. Duane Arnold is the nuclear power plant. It's not a person. But he was a distinguished leader of the utility industry in Iowa, I believe. And so you're taking a plant that was closed down and how hard is it to bring back a multiple plant?
Well, you know, we've had the team engaged in doing a lot of front-end engineering, site assessment. We feel very good, very comfortable about our ability to execute and bringing the plant back. We actually shut it down. We're pretty meticulous about doing it and we left it in a condition where...
When did you shut it down?
We shut it down around 2021 and so bringing it back, you know, five years later because of where prices were at the time and given the state the plant's been left in, you know, we feel very good about our ability to execute, deliver, and be able to bring it back.
And you're the partner or you're the off-taker.
We are. I think and one of the things we also spoke about last year when we were here is the upside from AI is profound, but you need the energy to deliver it. And so we're very committed to adding capacity as we continue to build our data centers. And Duane Arnold is a great example. We're doing this in many other ways as well to continue to add capacity. In fact, here in Texas, we've already invested to add 7,800 megawatts of capacity. We think that that is a responsible way to execute the growth around data centers. And we're doing this with nuclear, we're doing it with carbon capture. We're doing it with a whole host of things.
And what's great too, Dan, about what Google's doing, I mean, they're really bringing their own generation to solve the problem, right? And you know, they're paying the full freight, you know, for Duane Arnold to be brought back. So customers in Iowa aren't impacted at all with any of the costs associated with that. Google's paying for it all. And so you'll be the offtaker.
So will it also go into the power pool or just...?
Well, I mean basically the way it works is the power that will be generated by Duane Arnold will help facilitate the energization and electrify the data center buildout that Google has in that Cedar Rapids, Iowa area.
So Ruth, I know even when we talked over the last couple of years, you had a focus about SMRs and it sounds like you guys are cooperating on that. Now, what are you doing?
Well, we are. I mean, we've already had, you know, a few meetings where we're working together to look at how we can bring advanced nuclear forward in a responsible way across the US and different spots. But look, I mean, for it to work, you know, we've always said this at NextEra, you know, we've got to make sure that we do it not only from a standpoint of looking at the technological feasibility of the SMR but also do it in a commercially responsible way as well so that we're being careful on cost allocation, who actually has to take on the additional potential exposure, cost overruns for example. And these are really, I think about them as collaborations between four different parties. You know, the developer, NextEra, the offtaker and Google, the OEM that we would select together to bring forward the project where we'd have to be comfortable technologically and commercially, and then the federal government as well. So those four could come together, there could be an opportunity in the right spot to bring advanced nuclear forward.
Your thoughts on SMRs and Google's perspective.
We've invested in SMRs. We're excited about nuclear. I think our view is when we step back and I basically already said it. We're starting with the most important point is the upside that we all have the privilege to be a part of with AI is so profound. The economic upside, national security, which was already addressed here today, the ability to better deliver healthcare and education. So it is our responsibility collectively to ensure that the United States or the West is not constrained by energy. I think we're very much of the view that the US is in the lead on technology, on chips, and on models and we can sustain that. The thing that can trip us up and you already talked about it today is not having the energy capacity to do so. I think what Mike said in the prior session was so important. This should not be ideological. We're investing in nuclear. We're excited about the developments in SMRs. We're looking at fusion, investing there as well. We're investing in geothermal, batteries, as I said, carbon capture. It should be the full suite because at the end of the day, the importance, and you've written so eloquently about it, is abundance. This should be additive. And so we're trying to do our part by adding capacity, investing in these new technologies, by adding capacity as I described already that anytime we go into a community, we want to be a net addition and adding capacity where we use AI and technology to better utilize that which is there. I mean, just one example, we announced last week that we've been working on demand response for quite some time, which by which we mean real flexibility so that we move workloads out of the way whenever there's an extreme weather event, heat or cold. Just last week, we announced that we have forward commitments, contracts that underscore we will free up one gigawatt of capacity through demand response, long-term commitments. And that underscores our confidence that with technology we can actually add capacity and resilience to the grid. So overall SMRs is an important part of it. But we look at the overall suite of what can we do to responsibly add capacity so that we can continue to grow in a way that is additive to the communities in which we're investing.
And just to add on to what Ruth said, so well said by Ruth, it's going to take all the above energy solutions, right, to really make this work. And so what we're trying to do is facilitate the ability to bring electrons on very quickly. Friday we had an announcement of working together with the Japanese government for infrastructure investment capital to bring forward 10 gigawatts of new facilities, roughly 4.3 gigawatts in Pennsylvania, another five to 5.3 in Texas as well. But these are scale power generation projects where we can grow side by side with a hyperscaler as they want to expand and build out their data center and storage capability in that specific area. So they get the scale benefits of that buildout. We get the scale benefits of the buildout on the power generation side as well. And what Ruth said about demand response is so important. I mean we are spending a lot of time as we look at how to deploy AI in the business and working together with Google. How do you form a dispatchable resource? How do you handle a behind-the-meter load like a data center that could be there for scarcity events to really help solve a problem that otherwise couldn't be solved? If they have batteries at the site, how could those be dispatchable to help put power more on the grid, be really responsible about how we approach this together?
Right. So when you talk, were you talking about AI hubs when you were just talking about getting to these...?
I was, yeah, I was talking AI factories, these data center hubs. We have about 30 of them in our portfolio that we're already bringing forward. We have 3 to 5 gigawatt facilities. We have 30 identified. My goal over, I'm pushing the team is to get to 40 by the end of the year because I think that's really where the answer is going to lie, which is being able to bring power generation to bear at scale. So a hyperscaler, you know, Ruth doesn't have to run around the country and build a thousand different data centers. She can concentrate and focus on areas where we're going to build the power generation at scale.
So Ruth, when we were talking, of course, you said electricity is not new to Google, but it's been on the agenda since about 2007, I think.
So there are a host of different things that we've been focused on. One is going back to 2007. In 2007, we said we wanted to match 100% of energy consumption with renewables. We thought it would take ballpark a decade to reach that goal. But when you put a marker out in the market, it actually catalyzes investment. We found we hit that within 5 years. And that mindset, which is forward market commitments and working with partners, is the way we've approached continuing to add capacity. The key thing that we're seeing and that we've been working towards for quite some time is not only adding capacity as we're growing and in this environment where there's so much focus on the availability of energy that's been key in serving as well because we have a history of investing in and adding capacity. John already mentioned that the other absolutely critical element of it is really investing in affordability. And so what we are committed to is whenever we're moving into a community building a data center, not only do we pay for 100% of the energy we use, but critically given how underinvested the US has been in energy infrastructure, which you've already spoken about today, we're committed to investing to cover the full cost of that energy infrastructure to support our growth whether or not we use it. And I think it's really important that we're partnering in every community so that it's clear we're immunizing for that portion of it which is attributable to our growth and then on top of it we look to work with communities to do things like we created an energy affordability fund. So we go into a community and we'll work with local organizations to do things like weatherize people's homes. You immediately see a drop in the monthly bill. And I think one of the things that's very exciting that we've heard back from our partners, just give one example in Georgia, the CEO of Georgia Power may be here, said when we struck our deal, by the structure of what we've done, they are able to hold constant rates for ratepayers for 3 years.
So I think is that an answer to the widespread charge out there or political tension around data centers driving up the cost of electricity? It seems to be a political issue in many communities.
I think there are a couple of parts to it. One is making sure we're adding capacity, not taking. The other is protecting affordability for that which we are using. And I think the third really important element is when we go into a community and build a data center, we're creating jobs. So for every one data center job we create, there are nine additional jobs in the community that are created from construction, electricians, and in the community. And for that reason, we also created an electrician training program because there are hundreds of thousands of jobs out there.
