A major energy infrastructure company and a microreactor developer announced a partnership worth an estimated $145 billion in lifetime energy contracts, aiming to deploy over 3 gigawatts of nuclear power to data centers and hyperscalers through 2035. The deal represents a significant bet that advanced nuclear technology can solve the electricity crisis facing AI infrastructure expansion across the United States.

Why Are Data Centers Turning to Nuclear Power?

The explosive growth of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and advanced manufacturing has created an energy crunch that traditional power grids struggle to meet. Data centers and hyperscalers now face what industry leaders describe as an existential challenge: securing reliable, carbon-free electricity at massive scale. GridMarket and Deployable Energy's partnership directly addresses this bottleneck by connecting development-ready customers with emerging nuclear technology designed specifically for industrial and commercial applications.

The partnership targets 500 megawatts of capacity each year starting in 2030 through 2035, with the companies expecting to announce pilot host selection and customer engagements as Deployable Energy advances its development program. This timeline reflects the urgency felt across the hyperscaler industry, where power availability has become the defining constraint on facility expansion.

"Power availability has become the defining challenge facing data center development today," said Nick Davis, CEO of GridMarket. "Our customers are looking beyond traditional energy solutions and evaluating technologies that can deliver reliable, carbon-free power at scale."

Nick Davis, CEO at GridMarket

What Makes Deployable Energy's Nuclear Approach Different?

Deployable Energy's Unity Nuclear Battery represents a departure from conventional reactor design. Rather than generating electricity alone, the system delivers electricity, heat, and cooling in a single integrated package, dramatically reducing the water intensity that has strained local communities hosting large-scale compute infrastructure. This multi-output design addresses one of the most overlooked challenges in data center operations: the enormous cooling demands that consume vast quantities of water.

The company achieved a critical milestone by reaching criticality of its Unity demonstration reactor in roughly 150 days from project kick-off, following its selection into the U.S. Department of Energy's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad program. This speed positions Deployable Energy among the first advanced reactor developers to meet the DOE's accelerated deployment objectives, a benchmark that matters significantly in a market where every month of delay translates to missed revenue and competitive disadvantage.

"Demand for dependable, continuous power is growing faster than traditional infrastructure can support," said Bobby Gallagher, Co-Founder and CEO at Deployable Energy. "Together, we have an opportunity to demonstrate the Unity Nuclear Battery through an early pilot deployment while building relationships with prospective customers as we move toward commercialization."

Bobby Gallagher, Co-Founder and CEO at Deployable Energy

How Will This Partnership Accelerate Nuclear Deployment?

• Customer Pipeline: GridMarket will leverage its existing funnel of qualified customers and deployment-ready sites to support commercialization of Deployable Energy's Unity Nuclear Battery, connecting development-ready customers with the emerging technology.
• Priority Access: Deployable Energy will provide priority access to Unity Nuclear Battery deployments, helping position GridMarket customers among the earliest commercial adopters of the technology as it moves toward market availability.
• Pilot and Commercial Expansion: The companies will work together to advance customer engagements, develop an initial pilot installation, and expand commercial deployment opportunities as the technology progresses, with annual capacity targets of 500 megawatts starting in 2030.

The partnership agreement represents an estimated lifetime energy contract value of approximately $145 billion over a 40-year operational horizon, underpinned by over 3 gigawatts of cumulative clean nuclear deployments. This financial commitment signals confidence from both parties that advanced nuclear technology will become a cornerstone of data center power infrastructure in the coming decade.

What Does This Mean for Grid Planning and Reliability?

Grid operators face mounting pressure to balance rising electricity demand, transmission infrastructure constraints, shifting regulatory policies, and the need for dispatchable power that can respond to real-time demand fluctuations. The GridMarket-Deployable Energy partnership addresses one dimension of this challenge by providing firm, scalable power that doesn't depend on weather conditions or time of day, unlike solar and wind resources.

However, experts emphasize that deploying sufficient electricity requires answering three sequential questions: Can we produce enough kilowatt-hours to supply all customers? Can we deliver it to where it's needed? And is it affordable?. The partnership tackles the first and third questions directly, but transmission infrastructure and grid interconnection remain critical bottlenecks that require separate policy and investment solutions.

GridMarket's role as an energy project optimization platform that uses data and artificial intelligence to deploy energy solutions at scale positions it to identify deployment-ready sites where transmission constraints are minimal and customer demand is highest. This targeted approach may accelerate the path to commercialization compared to a more generalized nuclear deployment strategy.

The partnership announcement comes as data center operators, hyperscalers, and energy-intensive manufacturers increasingly recognize that traditional grid expansion cannot keep pace with AI infrastructure growth. By connecting GridMarket's customer base with Deployable Energy's manufacturing-focused approach to reactor deployment, the two companies are betting that advanced nuclear technology can become a product rather than a project, enabling faster deployment timelines and lower costs than conventional reactor construction.