미국 거대 기술 기업들이 원자력 운영사와의 장기 전력 구매 계약 체결을 통해 유럽 원자력 발전 부흥을 이끌고 있다.

JP Morgan believes the scramble by US technology giants for reliable power could push up European energy prices and hasten a long-awaited revival in nuclear power. Phil Buller, who covers European capital goods and utilities for the bank, said the trend was underappreciated by investors because it is complex and cuts across several sectors.

He pointed to a 22-year power purchase agreement between Google and Fortum, the Finnish energy group, signed this month. The deal will extend the life of a nuclear plant in Finland to 2050 at a premium of around 60% to forward power prices—one that JP Morgan views as significant.

The Google agreement echoes Microsoft's 20-year deal with Constellation Energy, the US nuclear operator, signed two years ago at a similar premium to renewable spot prices. That contract paved the way for the relaunch of the roughly one gigawatt Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania. At the time, the premium was seen as a price worth paying for a hyperscaler—a large cloud computing provider—to secure baseload power, the steady round-the-clock supply that wind and solar cannot guarantee.

With hindsight, Buller argued, Microsoft now looks visionary, having locked in supply ahead of significant energy cost inflation. The race for electricity to feed data centres is well underway in the US, but in Europe, JP Morgan reckons, it is only just getting started.