Product Independently confirmed 2 publishers 2 min read Published Sep 11, 2026, 12:57 PM PDT

Google's 22-year Loviisa contract underwrites €700m of refits Fortum has not yet approved

The €13 billion Google is putting into Finnish data centres in 2027 and 2028 comes with a two-decade electricity contract that Fortum says will support its programme to extend the Loviisa reactors' operating life.

The Product Desk

Send a correction

What happened

Google will buy up to half of the Loviisa nuclear plant's output under a contract that starts at reduced volume in 2028 and runs at the full 50 percent from 2030 through 2049.
Google will build data centres in Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala and expand the Hamina site it set up in a converted paper mill in 2009.
Fortum said around 80 percent of the projects required for the life extension, about €700 million worth, still lack investment decisions.
Loviisa's two VVER-440 pressurised water reactors entered commercial operation in 1977 and 1981, and in 2023 the Finnish government extended their operating licences through the end of 2050.
The two companies also signed a memorandum of understanding on new nuclear, renewable generation and electricity-system flexibility, including possible new reactors at Loviisa.

Why it matters

What's now possible capability A two-decade revenue stream gives Fortum's board a named counterparty for refurbishment work it has not signed off, so the 2050 licences become something a lender can price.
Who's exposed exposure Finnish industry and households will now compete for the uncommitted half of a plant that covers more than a tenth of national supply, with the other half spoken for until 2049.
Who has to decide decision Buyers who want round-the-clock power in Finland have to be willing to underwrite a generator's capital programme, which moves diligence onto outage plans and unapproved projects.
What doesn't add up contradiction Google presents the contract as protection for affordable Finnish electricity while taking up to half the plant's output, and no price has been published to test that against.

Next story · Invest · Oct 6

Google fights a £1.2bn UK claim over Play fees it agreed in March to cut

Confirmed3 publishers

Fortum's programme to extend Loviisa's life runs to about €1 billion. Take out the €700 million that has no investment decision behind it and roughly €300 million is committed. World Nuclear News reported that the Google contract is intended to provide a predictable revenue stream that can support those investments.

The two published accounts describe the term differently. Interesting Engineering called it a 20-year deal; the BBC reported a 22-year contract with Fortum. Both fit the schedule, because 2028 through 2049 inclusive is 22 years, and the stretch at the full 50 percent, 2030 to 2049, is 20.

Unit 1 entered commercial operation in 1977. It will be 72 years into service when the contract ends.

Loviisa supplies more than 10 percent of Finland's electricity. The contracted half is therefore upwards of 5 percent of national supply at today's share, and other buyers are arriving for what is left: TikTok said this week it would put $1 billion into a data centre in Kouvola. Google said keeping Loviisa running would help preserve access to reliable and affordable electricity for Finnish households, businesses and industry. Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, said the investment "underscores Google's commitment to grow our presence responsibly, pairing the expansion of our technical infrastructure with new energy capacity, grid enhancements, and energy affordability initiatives". Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said "Google's decision is a clear testament to our strengths". The announcements do not include a price.

New generation at the site is small next to the storage. A 38 MWe uprate is already underway for completion in 2028, and the agreement is expected to enable a further 10 MWe. That is 48 MWe of extra output against the 94 MW battery system Fortum has agreed to optimise at Google's Kajaani data centre.

For anyone structuring the same kind of deal elsewhere, two figures decide whether the seller can deliver what it signs. The first is the share of its refurbishment spending that has a board decision behind it, which at Loviisa is about €300 million of €1 billion. The second is how much of its output is already promised to someone else, which here is half, for 20 years at full volume. Fortum has said that new nuclear projects would require strong customer demand secured through long-term power purchase agreements, strategic partners, appropriate financing and risk-sharing arrangements. Google has now supplied the first of those conditions at a plant that started up in 1977.

What to watch

Whether Fortum's board approves the remaining €700 million of life-extension projects, and on what schedule.
Whether the memorandum of understanding on new reactors at Loviisa turns into a signed contract with a stated price.
Who buys the other half of Loviisa's output from 2030, and on what terms compared with Google's.

Clarity's read

What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.

Reality

Evidence60
Adoption52
Hype gap+15
Incentives74
Confidence66

Why these scores

Claim ledger

Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.

[1]
Google signed a long-term power purchase agreement with Finnish energy company Fortum securing electricity from the Loviisa nuclear power plant through the middle of the century, providing financial support for the facility's planned lifetime extension.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[2]
The agreement covers up to 50% of Loviisa's capacity.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[3]
The power purchase agreement will begin in 2028 at a reduced capacity before covering 50% of the plant's output from 2030 through 2049.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[4]
Google signed a 22-year contract with Finnish utility Fortum to buy up to 50% of the output from the Loviisa nuclear power plant.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[5]
Interesting Engineering's headline describes the agreement as a 20-year deal for electricity from Finland's Loviisa nuclear plant.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[6]
Google prepares to invest €13 billion ($15 billion) in data centers and supporting infrastructure in Finland during 2027 and 2028.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[7]
Loviisa consists of two VVER-440 pressurized water reactors; Unit 1 began commercial operation in 1977, followed by Unit 2 in 1981.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[8]
The plant currently supplies more than 10% of Finland's electricity.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[9]
According to World Nuclear News, the agreement with Google is intended to provide a predictable revenue stream that can support those investments.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[10]
Google said maintaining Loviisa's nuclear generation would help preserve access to reliable and affordable electricity for Finnish households, businesses and industry.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[11]
"This investment underscores Google's commitment to grow our presence responsibly, pairing the expansion of our technical infrastructure with new energy capacity, grid enhancements, and energy affordability initiatives," said Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[12]
Fortum said Google's commitment would support an investment programme aimed at extending the life of the nuclear station and increasing its generating capacity.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[13]
Google will build new data centres in Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala while expanding its existing facility in Hamina, which it established after converting a former paper mill in 2009.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[14]
In 2023, the Finnish government extended Fortum's operating licenses for both reactors through the end of 2050.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[15]
Fortum is undertaking an investment program of about €1 billion to extend the plant's operating life.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[16]
Fortum said around 80% of the projects required for the extension, representing approximately €700 million, still lack investment decisions.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[17]
A 38 MWe capacity increase at Loviisa is already underway and is expected to be completed in 2028, while the agreement is expected to enable another 10 MWe increase.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[18]
Fortum has previously said that new nuclear projects would require strong customer demand secured through long-term power purchase agreements, strategic partners, appropriate financing and risk-sharing arrangements.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[19]
Google and Fortum signed a memorandum of understanding covering potential cooperation on new nuclear power, renewable generation and electricity-system flexibility, and Google said it would work with Fortum to explore potential opportunities for new nuclear reactors at Loviisa.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[20]
Fortum has agreed with Google to optimize a 94 MW battery storage system planned for Google's data center in Kajaani.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[21]
"Google's decision is a clear testament to our strengths," Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in a statement.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[22]
Earlier this week, TikTok announced a $1bn investment in Finland to build a new data centre in Kouvola.
Reported SupportedView cited source
[23]
The contract window from 2028 through 2049 inclusive is 22 years, and the window at the full 50% of output, 2030 through 2049, is 20 years.
Derived Supported
[24]
Neither published account of the agreement includes a contract price or a contracted volume of electricity.
Derived Supported
[25]
About €300 million of Fortum's roughly €1 billion life-extension programme already has investment decisions.
Derived Supported
[26]
The half of Loviisa's output contracted to Google is upwards of 5% of Finland's electricity supply at the plant's current share.
Derived Supported
[27]
Loviisa Unit 1 will be 72 years into commercial operation when the Google contract ends in 2049.
Derived Supported
[28]
The two uprates at Loviisa total 48 MWe, about half the rated power of the 94 MW battery system at Google's Kajaani site.
Derived Supported

Sources

2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.

bbc.co.uk
1 article · September 9, 2026
Google picks Finland for its largest single investment in Europe
interestingengineering.com
1 article · September 11, 2026
Google signs 20-year deal for electricity from Finland’s Loviisa nuclear plant

Clarity analysis

How the coverage leans and what the record actually supports. Read the methodology

Perspective Coverage

How much of the coverage speaks to builders, operators and investors. It measures emphasis, not whether the story is right.

Builder

The concrete engineering here sits in Interesting Engineering's account, not the BBC's. Three new data centres at Kajaani, Muhos and Vaala with Hamina expanded; a 94 MW battery at Kajaani that Fortum will help operate; 48 MWe of uprating at a reactor pair first commissioned in 1977 and 1981. The build happens in 2027 and 2028, and the contracted power arrives behind it, reduced in 2028 and at the full half share from 2030.

Operator

Google has contracted half the output of a plant that supplies more than a tenth of Finland's electricity, which puts something over 5% of national supply under one buyer's contract until 2049. The licences run to end-2050, so the paper covers the term. What has to happen in between is the refit: Fortum's programme is about €1 billion and the company says roughly €700 million of it has no investment decision yet. Only Interesting Engineering carries that figure, and it is the condition on which the rest depends.

Investor

The €13bn is Google's, announced by Google, with the jobs and GDP numbers attributed to Google as well. Fortum's side of the trade is revenue certainty for two decades, which the company says supports the life-extension programme. Neither account discloses a price or a volume, so the deal cannot be valued from what is public. The BBC anchors it in Alphabet's raised capex plan of up to $205bn and in TikTok's $1bn Kouvola announcement days earlier.

Reality

Evidence, adoption, hype gap, incentives and confidence, each read independently from the current record on the scale shown beneath it. How these are measured.

Evidence60: 0100
Two accounts, one announcement
Almost every fact here comes from Wednesday's announcement and the two companies' statements. Interesting Engineering adds a second-hand layer, crediting World Nuclear News for the reading that the contract gives Fortum a predictable revenue stream and for Fortum's own figure on undecided refit spending. The plant details, reactor type, commissioning dates, licences to 2050, are checkable public record, and they are the firmest part of the reporting. The contract price is the one figure both publishers leave out.
Adoption52: 0100
Contracted now, delivering later
The contract is signed and the sites are named, but no electricity moves under it until 2028, and the full half share only from 2030. Construction is scheduled for 2027 and 2028. The 38 MWe uprate is already under way. Against that, the €700 million of refit work the revenue is meant to underwrite still needs Fortum investment decisions, so the operating basis for the back half of the term is not fixed.
Hype gap+15: −100 understated0 aligned+100 overstated
Underwriting stated ahead of approvals
Interesting Engineering's headline says 20 years while the contract runs 22, a gap its own schedule explains. The wider stretch is causal: the agreement is presented as support for a life extension whose €700 million balance Fortum has not committed to, and the two figures sit in the same paragraph without being weighed against each other. The BBC's 'largest single investment in Europe' is Google's phrasing, carried with attribution.
Incentives74: 0100
Three interested parties, one press day
Google announced its own spending, Fortum sold two decades of half a reactor pair's output, and a prime minister had a €13bn investment to welcome. All three are quoted, and the economic figures, more than 37,000 construction jobs and €3.6bn a year in GDP, are Google's own. No counterparty to the announcement appears in either account.
Confidence66: 0100
Terms consistent, value untestable
The contract structure holds up across both accounts once the 20- and 22-year labels are set against the 2028 and 2030 dates, and the plant facts are verifiable elsewhere. What caps confidence is that price and volume are not public, so neither Fortum's revenue certainty nor Google's cost of power can be checked against the claims made for them.

Topics and entities

Topics

Nuclear Plant Life Extension
Finland's digital infrastructure
Data Center Power Procurement
AI Infrastructure Capex