On Tuesday, Google announced that it has secured 3,590 megawatts of power from Constellation Energy.This is 3.6 gigawatts connected to the largest power grid in the United States, the PJM Interconnection, since the data centers of artificial intelligence require massive amounts of energy per hour, and this has to be compensated for somehow.About a quarter of the total amount will be generated by new nuclear power plants, and Constellation will invest more than $4.3 billion in increasing capacity.The AI race is quietly becoming a power-plant raceThe nuclear part is the most telling. Google inked a 20-year pact for 890 megawatts of nuclear power from multiple Constellation facilities, where the company’s reactors will undergo upgrades in order to produce extra megawatts.This new capacity will come online beginning in 2028. Altogether, the firm has plans for 11 nuclear generators across Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, within PJM jurisdiction.Additionally, there is an extra 2,700 megawatts of power from a different 15-year contract, whose source is undefined.This has become a trend among Big Tech companies. Microsoft has already endorsed Constellation’s efforts to bring back the Three Mile Island reactor in Pennsylvania that will power their data centers.Google, for its part, has inked an agreement with NextEra Energy in a bid to revive an Iowa nuclear plant. The AI race may be secretly transforming into a power plant race because the GPUs are useless when the lights don’t work.Constellation shares jumped more than 13% to $304.04 by mid-morning Tuesday after the agreement was announced. The Maryland company is America’s largest nuclear plant operator. It also owns natural-gas plants and geothermal assets after acquiring Calpine earlier this year.As per Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s global head of energy and power, “the company seeks to spur growth through investment in cleaner and more reliable supply.” Beneath all the smooth corporate talk, it’s clear that the pressure is building up – data centers are coming online faster than the grid can handle them.PJM is running out of room for giant data centersWithin PJM, prices for capacity there have increased by more than eleven times since 2024; data center expansion has played an important part in driving up prices. In addition, the grid faces an expected energy shortfall. Management has proposed an unceremonious solution; giant data centers will be required to supply their own electricity or face remote disconnects in times of high demand.The Google-Constellation deal is, in part, a reaction to this proposal. Rather than relying on utilities finding some extra capacity somewhere, the two companies are connecting new demand with increased supply.The pair has also developed a framework that can be applied elsewhere, covering new generation, battery storage, and demand response, which involves large customers reducing or changing their demand when the grid is stressed.Google’s CEO, Joe Dominguez, has called the deal a blueprint for technology companies and energy suppliers to invest in infrastructure expansion as the digital economy grows. The success of that concept depends on whether any actual capacity gets to the grid.However, on Monday, the Wilderness Society called for a moratorium on AI data centers on federal lands because of the electricity consumption, water consumption, wildlife habitat, and public access. This follows the Trump administration’s review of permits for several projects on Bureau of Land Management lands.Donald Trump has advocated for quicker construction of AI infrastructure and wider industrial use of public lands, including mining and oil and gas extraction. The industry is facing more opposition from locals over the amount of land, water, and electricity data centers use.The Wilderness Society hopes that its federal lands will remain focused on preservation and recreation when the decision-makers take into account the large-scale AI facilities in those lands.The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.