Google signed up for almost a gigawatt’s worth of new renewable energy output as the tech giant continues to chase a stated goal to make its global datacentre fleet green-powered 24/7.
Google will buy 75% of production equivalent to 942MW from four projects under development by the US arm of Japan’s SB Energy Texas after they enter service in 2024 in the state of Texas.
The electricity from the Orion 1-3 and Eiffel solar development – which have a combined total capacity of 1.2GW – will cover consumption at Google’s datacentre in the state and its Dallas cloud region operations.
The web giant has over the last five years been one of the biggest sourcers of renewable power globally with deals for around 6GW in place spanning onshore and offshore wind as well as solar.
Google’s core target is to run its operations – including its energy-hungry fleet of data centres – on clean power 24/7 by 2030, an aim that involves greening local grids and adding storage, as well as striking deals to cover consumption with renewable output elsewhere.
Sana Ouji, energy lead at Google, said: "Within the decade we're aiming for every Google datacentre to operate on clean electricity every hour of every day. This goal requires us to continue to grow our carbon-free energy portfolio.”
Google's tech peers Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook were the biggest buyers of corporate clean power in 2021 according to data released earlier in the year.
SB Energy said its plans for expansion had been given new momentum by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, and added that the Texas solar projects would use US-made First Solar modules.
