Google invests a fortune in renewable energy data centers: $20 million
Google announces a major partnership with TPG Rise Climate and Intersect Power to accelerate the development of data centers powered by renewable energy in the United States. The Mountain View firm plans to invest $20 billion in renewable energy infrastructure by 2030.
A partnership worth 20 billion dollars
Google takes an approach “power-first” in the design of data centers to reduce pressure on the electricity network while improving reliability and energy accessibility, according to press releases from its partner companies.
The project benefits from an initial fundraising of $800 million by TPG Rise Climate, Climate Adaptive Infrastructure, Greenbelt Capital Partners and Google. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is serving as financial advisor on this transaction. The sum will finance the first clean energy assets and the infrastructure necessary for the launch of these data centers.
The partnership aims to respond to an explosion in energy demand for data centers in the face of the advent of artificial intelligence. Intersect Power will lead the development of large-scale clean energy installations: solar, wind and battery storage systems. Google will be the main tenant of the new data center campuses which will exploit this renewable energy.
By 2026, energy demand from data centers, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence will double according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Hence the urgency of solutions aligned with the sustainability objectives of these industries.
The partnership aims to reduce the need for extensive transmission infrastructure by co-locating data centers with high-capacity, low-cost clean energy sources. The first project is already underway with a data center and a large-scale clean energy production facility: commissioning planned for 2026 with full completion in 2027.
