Google signs huge solar deal with SB Energy
Written by Stuart Crowley Tue 1 Nov 2022
Google has signed one of its largest solar agreement from single developer, SB Energy, to power its data centres in Texas.
The technology giant will purchase around 75% of the renewable energy produced by four of SB Energy’s four upcoming solar projects.
“SB Energy is thrilled to join forces with Google to provide clean energy to match Google’s Texas data center consumption,” said Rich Hossfeld, Co-CEO of SB Energy.
The solar projects known as Orion 1-3 and Eiffel will have a capacity totaling 1.2GW and are expected to be operational by mid-2024.
“We share Google’s relentless drive to achieve critical climate goals through innovative infrastructure and technology and look forward to expanding our relationship with Google as we deliver renewable energy that is local, reliable, and matched to load,” added Hossfeld.
The agreement is Google’s largest combined clean energy transaction in Texas to date. The 75% of renewable energy produced by the four solar projects represents approximately 942MW.
“Within the decade we’re aiming for every Google data center to operate on clean electricity every hour of every day. This goal requires us to continue to grow our carbon-free energy portfolio,” said Sana Ouji, Energy Lead at Google.
By 2030, Google aims to operate its data centres on carbon-free energy, whilst also bringing clean energy jobs to Texas. The four projects by SB Energy, which is backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group, employs 10,000 people, including thousands of new jobs created during construction.
Supria Ranade, Head of Power Marketing at SB Energy, said: “We are pleased to deploy nearly a gigawatt of solar capacity to Google. We’re proud that our customers know they can trust us to execute at a scale needed to achieve their climate goals.”
The projects will use solar modules produced at First Solar’s Ohio manufacturing plant.
SB Energy currently owns and operates 1.7 GW of solar capacity. The company is scaling rapidly, bolstered by the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Image Source: Reuters
Written by Stuart Crowley Tue 1 Nov 2022