Google is buying another 600 megawattssolar energypower its data centers. The new agreement covers solar and energy storage projects being developed by EnergyRe in South Carolina. The company said it has 16 gigawatts of energy storage projects under development; on its websitelistedMost projects deploy solar capacity of about 60 MW to 75 MW, but there are also projects with larger installed capacity.
Google has recently invested heavily in renewable energy. Last year, the company committed to investing $20 billion in partnership with Intersect Power and TPG Rise Climate to build enough zero-carbon power plants to power multi-gigawatt data centers. In January, the company signed a contract with Leeward Renewable Energy to purchase more than 700 megawatts of solar projects in Oklahoma.
Like many technology companies, Google says it will eliminate its energy carbon footprint by 2030. After years of steady investments in renewable energy, Google and its peers have been making steady progress toward this goal.
But growth in artificial intelligence and the computing power it requires to run it complicates that calculation, forcing Google and other companies to step up their purchasing efforts. The company has contracts to purchase 4 gigawatts of clean energy in 2023, the last year for which Google makes public data.
Google is not alone: This year alone, Microsoft has added hundreds of megawatts of new solar capacity, including 475 megawatts purchased in March. Meta signed solar power agreements for 595 MW and 505 MW respectively in January and February.