Google backs major US solar project to offset fossil fuel emissions

{"text":[[{"start":9.1,"text":"Google has agreed to buy the output of a massive solar power project to offset its fossil fuel emissions, in a show of continued demand for renewable energy despite US President Donald Trump’s efforts to kill it."}],[{"start":21.7,"text":"The search company will take 100 per cent of the initial output of the Steel River Energy Center in Arkansas when it becomes operational in 2029. The project is the biggest of its kind to break ground in the US and will initially deliver 1.6 gigawatts of solar power and 2 gigawatt hours of battery storage, enough to power more than 315,000 homes each year. Upon completion it will reach 2.5GW of solar and 2.9GWh of storage. The deal is a virtual power purchase agreement, in which Google will pay for the project’s electricity at a fixed price without receiving the energy. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed."}],[{"start":59.7,"text":"Since data centres require continuous power, they often cannot run directly on renewables, which require the sun to be shining or the wind to be blowing to generate electricity. "}],[{"start":70,"text":"Instead, most data centres are hooked up to the electricity grid — which uses a mixture of natural gas, renewables, coal and nuclear, and on-site power, often gas turbines and engines — for uninterrupted power. So Google relies on the traditional grid for power while allocating the solar output to customers with more variable demand. "}],[{"start":90.1,"text":"The long-term revenue commitment gives renewable project developers the financial guarantee they need to secure financing and build new projects."}],[{"start":98.6,"text":"“The investment supplies the grid at large, and passes along the benefits from the local power plant to all customers in Arkansas,” said Will Conkling, Google’s head of data centre energy."}],[{"start":110.55,"text":"The practice of buying renewable energy to match fossil fuel use is controversial, with critics pointing out that companies still draw power from the grid while the clean energy they pay for may be generated elsewhere or at another time."}],[{"start":125.25,"text":"According to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, about 56 per cent of the electricity used to power US data centres comes from fossil fuels."}],[{"start":134.65,"text":"Google’s grid-based emissions from electricity use rose 37 per cent in 2025, while it, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft accounted for 49 per cent of all corporate clean-power deals in the same year, according to BloombergNEF."}],[{"start":150.6,"text":"As tech giants’ power use is rapidly growing, some have admitted that sustaining their clean energy commitments is a struggle. In its 2026 environmental report, Google said it was getting harder to reach its “moonshot” climate goals. "}],[{"start":165.75,"text":"Developer Cypress Creek Energy says the deal is a rare bright spot for US solar, an industry targeted by the Trump administration, which has withdrawn its tax credits and attempted to delay or block projects."}],[{"start":178.35,"text":"Rising power demand is boosting projects such as Steel River. Google said its electricity use leapt by a record 37 per cent in 2025, while Microsoft’s grew 24 per cent. Total US electricity demand is set to grow between 25 and 50 per cent by 2050, according to the Energy Information Administration. "}],[{"start":199.7,"text":"Tech groups such as Google were increasingly looking for behemoth projects such as Steel River to match their growing energy use, said Cypress Creek Energy chief executive Kevin Smith."}],[{"start":210.7,"text":"“Big Tech is critical,” Smith said. “We’re almost like hotel developers, we find markets where it makes sense to build. The difference is that when we build, we’ve sold out all the rooms for 20 years.”"}],[{"start":223,"text":"Solar and storage will account for 58 per cent of new power installations from 2026 to 2030, which advocates say is because it is relatively quick and cheap to build."}],[{"start":234.2,"text":"The Steel River project is also relying heavily on US-made goods, favouring domestic supply chains over Chinese manufacturing. "}],[{"start":242.89999999999998,"text":"First Solar, which says it uses 100 per cent domestic materials, will supply the panels, while steel will be sourced in Arkansas and the batteries from LG’s plant in Phoenix."}],[{"start":254.49999999999997,"text":"Trump’s tax-and-spending plan capped the proportion of developer equipment costs that can come from “proscribed foreign entities” such as China. The International Energy Agency estimates China accounts for about 85 per cent of solar supply chain capacity and produced more than 80 per cent of global battery output in 2025."}],[{"start":274.79999999999995,"text":"Access to financing increasingly hinges on projects’ ability to prove they can retain their tax credits by steering supply chains away from China."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

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