VIEWPOINT: Big Tech Just Saved Nuclear -Now It Needs Thermal Storage to Work

This is the second installment in Brenmiller Energy's "Viewpoint" Series, which explores the infrastructure, innovation, and storage technologies needed to build a resilient, low-carbon energy future.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL / ACCESS Newswire / June 9, 2025 / The recent announcement that Meta signed a 20-year power purchase agreement to purchase roughly 1.1 gigawatts of energy from Constellation's Clinton Clean Energy Center in Illinois, the entire output from the site's one nuclear reactor, is being celebrated as a nuclear renaissance milestone. We see it as a catalyst. The deal not only saved a vital zero-emissions plant from potential closure but also signaled a new era of private-sector alignment with long-term energy planning.

It also confirmed something we at Brenmiller Energy have been saying for years: clean energy generation alone is not enough.

In an increasingly complex and electrified world driven by AI workloads and 24/7 compute demands, flexibility and system management-not just sufficient energy generation-are the constraints. That's especially true for nuclear energy. Nuclear energy delivers unmatched baseload stability; however, it was never built to handle dynamic, real-time load profiles created by today's technology-dependent world.

That's the challenge Big Tech is now facing. It's also where thermal energy storage, including our bGen technology, can play a supporting role.

Nuclear Wasn't Designed for What's Already Here

Traditional nuclear reactors were optimized to run at full capacity, continuously. That model made sense in a 20th-century grid-when baseload demand was steady, and flexibility wasn't mission-critical.

But today's energy reality looks very different:

• Hyperscale data centers operate in real-time energy demand cycles that can vary not just hourly, but minute to minute.

• Manufacturers are electrifying industrial heat. Not only to reduce carbon emissions but to de-risk cost visibility associated with natural gas and fossil fuels.

• The energy mix includes variable renewables (such as wind and solar) that require precise grid-managing balance. Without it, major power outages similar to what happened in the Iberian Peninsula could become more frequent.

• Countries are building off-grid and island-mode projects that need local dispatch control.

In this new energy landscape, nuclear power, despite its significant contributions, cannot deliver what is required on its own. Not because it lacks the power-generating strength but because it lacks proper management. That reality isn't going unnoticed.