Google has signed a strategic partnership with Intersect Power and TPG Rise Climate to develop colocated renewable power and storage technologies with new data centers across the US.
Under the partnership's terms, Intersect Power will construct clean energy assets, with Google as the offtaker via new data center campuses and as an anchor tenant in colocated industrial parks. Google plans to deliver gigawatts of new data center capacity across the US as part of the partnership.
“The scale of AI presents an opportunity to completely rethink data center development — by colocating them where possible with the grid-connected carbon-free energy that keeps them up and running,” said Amanda Peterson Corio, global head of data center energy at Google.
Intersect has targeted $20 billion in renewable power infrastructure investment by the end of the decade. It has already commenced financing of the partnership’s first colocated clean energy project, which is expected to be operational in 2026 and fully complete by 2027.
The partnership will deploy a “power first” model. The model aims to ease the burden on the grid and improve the overall reliability and affordability of energy for customers by delivering new clean energy that is purpose-built for the data center.
The partners plan to bring both the data center and clean energy systems online simultaneously to match the new power demand with the new clean energy, reducing time to operation and improving overall grid reliability.
“This partnership is an evolution of the way hyperscalers and power providers have previously worked together. We can and are developing innovative solutions to expand data center capacity while reducing the strain on the grid,” said Sheldon Kimber, CEO of Intersect Power.
Intersect has announced a $800 million funding round led by Google and TPG to support deployment. The funding round also includes Climate Adaptive Infrastructure and Greenbelt Capital Partners. Morgan Stanley & Co. acted as financial advisor on the transaction.
Google has signed several clean power agreements to support its data center operations over 2024. Most of these have been through long-term Power Purchase Agreements (PPA).
In 2023, it developed a new Request for Proposal system, LEAP, with LevelTen Energy to streamline the procurement process of PPAs and allow for greater flexibility in customizing them for specific customers.
Google has signed several PPAs through LEAP, including a 90MW PPA with Engie North America in October. That PPA was its fourth in Texas alone this year, following agreements with Elawan Energy, X-Elio, and SB Energy for a combined 1.1GW of contracted power.
Intersect Power is a US-based clean energy company with a portfolio of 2.2GW of operating solar PV and 2.4GWh of battery storage in operation or construction. The deal with Google is its first significant agreement with a data center hyperscaler.
TPG Rise Climate is the dedicated climate investing strategy of TPG’s $25 billion global impact investing platform.
