核能公司 Elementl Power 正寻求筹集 7.5 亿美元，在为 AI 供电的电力需求激增之际，获得了韩国风险投资公司的支持。
Nuclear energy company Elementl Power is getting backing from a South Korean venture capital firm as it seeks to raise $750 million, amid skyrocketing demand for electricity to power AI.
据知情人士透露，由 DS Investment Partners 牵头的财团承诺最多投入 2 亿美元，用于开发 Elementl 最多三个核电项目。三星物产正在洽谈提供部分工程支持，也将投入资金。这轮融资将考验私人资本对核电源开发最早阶段的投资意愿。
A consortium led by DS Investment Partners pledged as much as $200 million to develop up to three of Elementl’s nuclear projects, according to people familiar with the matter. Samsung C&T Corp., in talks to provide some engineering support, is committing money, too, in a fundraising push that will test private capital’s appetite for the first stages of developing atomic power sources.
这家总部位于华盛顿的公司正在寻求资金，以支持至少一个实例中大型公用事业建设的最早阶段。Elementl 还在致力于部署一种新型核技术，旨在比传统反应堆更紧凑。在俄亥俄州梅格斯县——一个前阿巴拉契亚煤矿中心——该开发商正在部署来自 GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy 的小型模块化反应堆，将提供高达 1.5 吉瓦的电力。
The Washington firm is seeking money to back the earliest phases of utility-scale buildouts in at least one instance. Elementl is also working to deploy a new kind of nuclear technology designed to be more compact than conventional reactors. In Meigs County, Ohio, a former Appalachian coal mining hub, the developer is working to deploy small modular reactors from GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy that will supply as much as 1.5 gigawatts.
虽然小型模块化反应堆在美国从未在商业规模上实施过，但来自数据中心的创纪录电力需求正促使新进入者涉足该领域。它们面临获得运营执照——以及新建设资金的障碍。
While small modular reactors have never been implemented at commercial scale in the US, record demand for electricity from data centers is prompting new entrants to wade in. They face hurdles getting operating licenses — and capital for the new buildouts.
Elementl 成立于 2022 年，由 Energy Impact Partners 和 T. Rowe Price Group 支持，将把最新一轮融资用于客户签署合同前所需的工作。首席执行官 Chris Colbert 在采访中表示，希望这能为未来更传统的项目融资打开大门。那通常涉及更大型机构支持开始产生现金流的项目。
Elementl, founded in 2022 and backed by Energy Impact Partners and T. Rowe Price Group, will deploy its latest fundraising push on work that needs to be done before customers to sign on to contracts. The hope is that will open the door for more traditional project financing in future, the firm’s chief executive officer, Chris Colbert, said in an interview. That typically involves bigger institutions backing projects that start delivering cash flows.
传统核能项目历来需要大量政府支持，投资者长期将其视为资本密集型且风险过高。如今，人工智能让核电——能够持续以高容量运行——成为焦点。为数据中心供电的电力需求远超供给，促使科技公司寻求核电交易。
Conventional nuclear energy projects have traditionally necessitated significant government support, with investors long viewing them as capital-intensive and too risky. Now AI is putting nuclear power, which can run continuously at high capacity, in the spotlight. Demand for electricity to power data centers far outstrips supply, prompting tech firms to seek deals for nuclear power.
“电力正日益成为瓶颈，”科尔伯特说。“我们看到来自国内制造业、生产回流以及人工智能竞赛的巨大需求信号，这是美国输不起的竞赛。”去年，Elementl 与 Alphabet 旗下的 Google 签署协议，为核能项目选址。
“Power is increasingly the bottleneck,” Colbert said. “We’re seeing huge demand signal from domestic manufacturing, re-onshoring and the AI race, which the US can’t afford to lose.”Last year, Elementl signed an agreement with Alphabet Inc.’s Google to position project sites for nuclear energy.