Tech giant inks deal for solar powered data centres

Google is on track to source almost a gigawatt of renewable energy from solar to power its data centres in Texas.

The tech giant has agreed a deal with the US arm of Japan’s SB Energy Texas to purchase around 75% of the renewable energy generated on four future solar projects.

Known as Orion 1-3 and Eiffel, the solar developments will have a capacity totaling 1.2GW and are expected to be operational by mid-2024.

The plan is part of Google’s aim to to operate on 24-7 carbon-free energy by 2030, a goal 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.”

“SB Energy is thrilled to join forces with Google to provide clean energy to match Google’s Texas data center consumption,” said SB Energy co-CEO Rich Hossfeld. “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.”