“Don’t be evil” was the unofficial motto of Google during its early years. In 2015, “do the right thing” became the new motto after the formation of its parent company, Alphabet.
That “do the right thing” really hit home last week in Iowa when NextEra Energy and Google announced a much-anticipated agreement to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center, Iowa’s only nuclear facility.
Once operational, Google will purchase power from the 615-megawatt plant as a 24/7 carbon-free energy source to help power Google’s growing cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Iowa while also strengthening local grid reliability. That will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and drive significant economic investment to the Midwest.
Google has signed a 25-year agreement to purchase carbon-free nuclear energy from the Duane Arnold plant.
Duane Arnold, which shut down in 2020, is expected to be online and delivering electricity to the grid by the first quarter of 2029, pending regulatory approvals to restart the plant.
“Restarting Duane Arnold marks an important milestone for NextEra Energy,” said John Ketchum, chairman and CEO of NextEra Energy. “Our partnership with Google not only brings nuclear energy back to Iowa — it also accelerates the development of next-generation nuclear technology.
He added “Thanks to the leadership of the Trump administration, Google and NextEra Energy are answering the call of America’s golden age of power demand, creating thousands of jobs, strengthening Iowa’s economy, delivering long-term value to our shareholders and helping power America’s future through innovation and technology.”
We won’t belabor the shortsighted and wrongheaded decision to shut down Duane Arnold in the first place, but rather we will focus on the transformational economic development opportunity the restart presents to the region.
According to a news release, the restart project is expected to create approximately 400 direct, high-quality full-time jobs and deliver more than $9 billion in economic benefits to Iowa — one of the biggest single economic projects in state history.
A recently released economic study, referenced in the news release, projects substantial economic benefits from recommissioning Duane Arnold, including:
Across Iowa:
- More than 1,600 direct, indirect and induced jobs during the plant’s construction.
- More than $340 million in annual economic output during operations.
In the Corridor:
- More than 800 direct, indirect and induced jobs during the plant’s construction and approximately 400 direct, full-time jobs during operations.
- Local total earnings during construction of more than $89 million and local long-term earnings of more than $127 million.
- More than $320 million in annual economic output during operations.
- An average of $3 million in annual tax revenue to support schools, infrastructure and fire-rescue services.
We are proud and pleased that Duane Arnold is coming back online and that this important economic development engine will again be powering the region and state. This is a huge win
