Google to Invest $13 Billion in Finland and Take Half of the Loviisa Nuclear Plant's Capacity: A Political Crisis Over AI Infrastructure

Global technology giant Google has announced an unprecedented investment package for Finland: the company will direct 13 billion dollars toward expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure and building modern data centers. A key element of the deal is a long-term agreement to purchase up to 50% of the electricity generated by the Loviisa nuclear power plant, for a period of 22 years. While the news was received in tech circles as a triumph of "green" nuclear energy, it has triggered a wave of anxiety in Finnish society: will there be enough electricity for the population and businesses, and won't tariffs skyrocket?

The Scale of the Deal: 22 Years of "Energy Hunger" for Neural Networks

According to Reuters, the agreement between Google and the Finnish power system is of a record nature. The tech giant is allocating 13 billion dollars to build data centers that support artificial intelligence algorithms, and will directly channel up to half of the total output of the Loviisa nuclear plant to the needs of its own data centers. Experts note that training and operating modern neural networks require enormous amounts of electricity, and Finland's cold climate and the availability of "green" nuclear generation have made the country an optimal location for AI infrastructure. By calculations, the deal will remain in effect until 2048–2050, making it one of the longest corporate energy contracts in Europe.

"Will There Be Enough Energy for the People?": The Opposition's Alarm and the Question of National Security

The transfer of such a huge amount of power to a single corporation has provoked sharp discontent among political forces running an active pre-election campaign. The leader of the Centre Party, Antti Kaikkonen, stated the need to create a unified national system for issuing data center permits across the country, warning: "At present, no one is assessing the situation as a whole." Social Democratic Party member of parliament Niina Malm directly linked the issue to national and internal security: "It is vital that people have enough energy and that its price remains affordable." Local businesses and residents fear that on cold winter days the billions of kilowatts taken by Google will create a shortage for ordinary homes and factories, leading to higher electricity prices.

The Government's Defense: Economic Stimulus and a Promise of Tariff Control

In response to domestic political pressure, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo publicly supported the government's plan. The head of government emphasized that the 13-billion-dollar project will be a powerful boost for the development of the national economy and the creation of high-tech jobs. Trying to reassure the public, Orpo promised that electricity prices in the country would not rise sharply and that tariffs would remain under state control. In his words, diversifying the power system's sources of income through a long-term contract with a global technology leader would only strengthen Finland's position in the European market.

Contradictory Data

Open sources show a slight discrepancy in the term of the agreement. In a number of publications, including a zamin.uz article dated September 11, 2026, the contract term is given as 22 years, whereas in the headline of a pravda.ru publication the deal is described as lasting "until 2050." If the contract was signed in 2026, the 22 years run until 2048; if, however, it takes effect from 2028, the horizon does indeed shift to 2050. Moreover, in one source the phrasing "almost half" of the plant's capacity appears alongside another — "up to 50%" — which formally could mean either a fixed or a variable share. The exact parameters of the contract, including the mechanism for calculating the transferred capacity and the indexation terms, were not fully disclosed by either side at the time of preparing this material.

AI Is Changing More Than the Virtual World

The agreement between Google and Helsinki clearly demonstrates how, in the era of digital technology, artificial intelligence is transforming real national power systems. Handing over half of nuclear generation to a private corporate giant is at once a bold step toward economic development and a potential risk of redistributing energy resources in favor of corporations. The question of whether the state can maintain a balance between attracting trillion-scale investments and guaranteeing affordable energy for citizens will surely remain at the center of the Finnish political agenda throughout the term of the contract.