Key facts
- Google proposed financing 1.4 GW of wind, 200 MW of solar and 300 MW of battery storage with Xcel Energy for its 780-MW Project Skyway data centre.
- Google would pay minimum monthly charges on at least 75% of contracted capacity even if consumption falls below that level.
- Early termination could cost Google exit fees equivalent to as much as eight years of minimum demand charges.
- The Minnesota Centre for Environmental Advocacy sued Pine Island in October last year over the development's environmental study.
- A Pine Island survey between August 1 and August 31 found 75.8% of participants opposed to Project Skyway.
Google has proposed an agreement with Xcel Energy to support wind, solar and battery storage development alongside its new 780-MW Project Skyway data centre in Pine Island, Minnesota. Under the proposal, Google would finance Xcel's addition of 1.4 GW of wind, 200 MW of solar power and 300 MW of battery storage to the grid. Xcel Energy said the new energy resources would serve the wider grid, benefiting other customers as well as the data centre.
The proposed agreement includes minimum demand charges and exit fees. Google would pay minimum monthly charges based on at least 75% of its contracted capacity even if consumption falls below that level, and could face exit fees equivalent to as much as eight years of minimum demand charges if it terminates early. Amanda Rome, executive vice president and chief customer officer at Xcel Energy, said: "Nobody wants to have a big buildout and then have nowhere for that power to go and nobody to pay for that power." The Clean Energy Accelerator Charge model uses the same structure as the Clean Transition Tariff Google developed with NV Energy and is pending approval from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.
Briana Kobor, Google's Head of Energy Market Innovation, said the partnership "reimagines how data centres can be served." The report said 71% of Americans surveyed in a Gallup poll earlier in the year opposed the construction of a data centre in their local area, and a Pine Island survey conducted between August 1 and August 31 found 75.8% of participants against Project Skyway.
In October last year, the Minnesota Centre for Environmental Advocacy filed a lawsuit against the city of Pine Island, claiming the environmental study for the development was vague, initially omitted Google as the end user, and failed to disclose impacts on energy, water, noise and generators. The initial Alternative Urban Area Review indicated the data centre would use approximately 55.7 million gallons of water per year, increasing the city's total water consumption by approximately 50%. Environmental groups raised concerns about the lack of comprehensive groundwater impact analysis, and opponents questioned whether wastewater discharges could run into the Zumbro River.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates data centres could account for 11.8% of total U.S. electricity by 2030. The Energy Information Administration projects electricity consumed by data centre servers could reach between 446 billion and 818 billion kilowatt-hours annually by 2050, accounting for between 22% and 33% of commercial building electricity consumption.