Google contracts close to 1 GW of solar power in Texas

Google LLC has entered into a solar power purchase agreement (PPA) with SB Energy Global LLC tied to 942 MW of generating capacity so that the search engine major can match the consumption of its Midlothian data centre in Texas.

SB Energy announced in a statement on Tuesday that Google has contracted about 75% of the future output of four solar projects – Orion I, II and III, as well as Eiffel – that are currently being developed and will have a combined capacity of nearly 1.2 GW once completed in mid-2024. Below you can find more information about each project.

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All four projects will primarily use solar modules made by First Solar Inc in Ohio. Earlier this year, SB Energy ordered 1.5 GW of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules from this manufacturer for its advanced-stage pipeline in the US.

The newly-announced PPA represents the Internet giant’s largest combined clean energy transaction in Texas to date.

"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 caron-free energy portfolio,” commented Sana Ouji, Energy Lead at Google.

SB Energy is a solar-and-storage platform backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp and funds managed by the Infrastructure and Power strategy of Ares Management Corporation. Presently, it owns and operates 1.7 GW of solar capacity and expects to begin construction work on an additional 1.3 GW by early next year. The platform has been operating in the US market since 2019.