Google says its next data centers will be built next to wind and solar farms
- Google is working with energy companies to power future data centers
- The next wave of Google data centers would use solar and wind farms
- Move is part of a total investment of $20 billion
A new one partnership between Google, energy company Intersect Power and climate solutions organization TPG Rise Climate, will try to provide clean energy for the company’s future data centers.
As demand for AI grows rapidly, technology companies are expanding their capabilities, but Google is taking a positive step toward a sustainable future with on-site renewable energy sources for its data centers.
Data centers are known to cause energy consumption to skyrocket, and at the current rate they will soon be using more energy than we currently produce. This means that companies must balance accelerated consumption and their sustainability goals.
A ‘power first’ approach
To address this problem, Google hopes to connect its data centers directly to solar and wind farms, instead of the existing electricity grid, which largely uses fossil fuels. This would also ease pressure on the already weakened electricity grid and improve reliability for energy customers.
The first phase of this infrastructure development is expected to be operational in 2026 and will represent a total investment of $20 billion. In the future, where possible, Google will build data centers on campuses equipped with their own clean energy, in ‘co-located industrial parks’.
Google hopes this will be a “blueprint for the future” and allow the company to expand its digital infrastructure in a sustainable way. It seems unlikely that AI will be less energy intensive in the near future, so creating sustainable solutions will be crucial.
“To realize the potential of AI, the growth in electricity demand must be met with new, clean energy sources.” said Amanda Peterson Corio, Global Head of Data Center Energy at Google.
“The scale of AI presents an opportunity to completely rethink the development of data centers – co-locating them where possible with the grid-connected carbon-free energy that keeps them running.”
