At a glance
- Each unit is rated at 80MW of electrical capacity and a further 200MW of thermal power.
- Amazon will fund the project and be the first offtaker, buying power once the units are operational.
- In 2024 the companies partnered with Washington state utility Energy Northwest to develop up to 960MW of capacity from approximately 12 SMRs, with the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility slated for construction outside Richland, near Energy Northwest's existing Columbia Generating Station.
Amazon and American Electric Power will explore deploying up to 960MW of small modular reactor capacity in Indiana, with Amazon-backed X-energy supplying 12 of its Xe-100 units. Each unit is rated at 80MW of electrical capacity and a further 200MW of thermal power. Once deployed, the reactors are expected to supply power both directly to Amazon's data center portfolio and to the regional grid AEP operates.
Amazon will fund the project and be the first offtaker, buying power once the units are operational. The operating role sits with AEP and its Indiana Michigan Power utility. "AEP and its Indiana Michigan Power utility have operated a nuclear power plant for more than 50 years, making them an ideal facility operator," said Josh Weissman, vice president of data center delivery at AWS. The partners also claim the project could create more than 1,000 construction jobs and more than 100 permanent roles.
Second regional utility agreement
This is the second Amazon and X-energy agreement with a regional utility. In 2024 the companies partnered with Washington state utility Energy Northwest to develop up to 960MW of capacity from approximately 12 SMRs, with the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility slated for construction outside Richland, near Energy Northwest's existing Columbia Generating Station. Both agreements combine a hyperscaler as funder and first customer, an established utility and a reactor vendor.
Amazon describes the projects as part of a goal to deploy more than 5GW of nuclear capacity in the US by 2039. X-energy's other commitments include 6GW in the UK with Centrica, up to 1.44GW with PJM and Talen in Pennsylvania, and a US facility under construction to produce TRISO-X fuel.
For AEP, the Indiana plan sits alongside an eight-year deal to buy up to 1.6GW of Mainspring units, with a stated ceiling of up to $4 billion. It also follows a planned 702MW Cheyenne fuel-cell project paired with a 20-year Google PPA, per our earlier reporting.
When the Department of Energy put $1 billion behind X-energy in September, this publication argued that federal money absorbs technology risk on a first-of-a-kind reactor while interconnection, siting and offtake risk stay private. Amazon's funding commitment and first-buyer position move the demand-side risk onto a corporate balance sheet.
Reported by the Energy Transition desk from Data Center Dynamics. Published . Corrections