Four solar power projects going up in Texas will provide up to 942 MW of renewable power for Google’s data center in the same state.
Google signed a power purchase agreement with Softbank-backed SB Energy for 75 percent of electricity generated by the Orion 1, 2 and 3 solar farms as well as the Eiffel solar PV project. Altogether, the Orions and Eiffel are expected to generate close to 1.2 GW (1,200 MW) at capacity when they become operational by mid-2024.
This is dubbed as Google's largest combined clean energy transaction in Texas to date. It will help fulfil the energy needs of its Midlothian, Texas-based data center and cloud infrastructure in Dallas while supporting the company’s commitment to utilize carbon-free energy for all its operations.
"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,” Sana Ouji, Energy Lead at Google, said. “We're excited to partner with SB Energy to bring online four solar projects that will meaningfully grow our portfolio of renewable energy projects in the region and bring additional clean energy jobs to Texas.”
The solar projects will primarily utilize U.S.-made First Solar modules produced at First Solar's Ohio manufacturing plant.
These four solar projects will also create thousands of new construction jobs, supporting Texas's robust renewable energy industry, which employs 10,000 people.
Presently, SB Energy owns and operates 1.7 GW of solar capacity and has another 8 GW solar and 14 GWh of energy storage under development.
