Google Inks $3b Deal To Buy Hydropower From Brookfield

As it races to build ever larger information centers, Google connected Tuesday said it has agreed to salary much than $3 cardinal to root carbon-free hydropower from Brookfield Asset Management’s company, Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners.

The first contracts nether nan woody see 20-year powerfulness acquisition agreements, nan companies said, altogether amounting to $3 billion, for 670 megawatts of capacity from 2 hydropower plants successful Pennsylvania. The woody is portion of a broader model statement that will let Google to root up to 3 gigawatts of capacity successful total.

The woody comes arsenic Google and its hyperscaler rivals, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft, activity to root powerfulness for their seemingly ever-expanding information centers that they usage to house, train, and big nan AI devices that underpin nan tech sector’s existent boom.

This renewed request for powerfulness has breathed caller life into atomic energy, boosted gas generation, and brought backmost attraction connected renewable energy. Google itself has committed tens of billions to making judge it won’t tally retired of power; Meta much aliases little bought a atomic plant; and Microsoft has struck a woody to root powerfulness for 20 years from a atomic works adjacent to different 1 that melted down astir 50 years ago.

Power aside, renewable power besides presents an charismatic opportunity for these companies to proceed moving towards their net-zero targets moreover arsenic their burgeoning information centers adhd to their c emissions.

Brookfield Renewable Partners, which operates renewable power plants successful nan U.S., said its 2 hydropower accommodation successful Pennsylvania, Holtwood and Safe Harbor, will beryllium relicensed, upgraded, aliases overhauled to meet nan caller requirements.

“This collaboration pinch Brookfield is simply a important measurement forward, ensuring cleanable power proviso successful nan PJM region wherever we operate. Hydropower is simply a proven, low-cost technology, offering dependable, homegrown, carbon-free energy that creates jobs and builds a stronger grid for all,” Amanda Peterson Corio, caput of information halfway power astatine Google, said successful a statement.