Google is ramping up its investments in the Lone Star State with plans to spend more than $1 billion this year to meet the growing demand for its data centers in Texas and has signed deals for solar energy to power the facilities.
The Mountain View, California-based search engine giant's announcement on Thursday comes after Google has been steadily investing in the state and its data centers for years. Google plans to continue investing in its data center campuses in two Dallas-area suburbs — Midlothian and Red Oak — to meet the growing demand for Google Cloud, artificial intelligence and other digital products and services.
The company's Dallas cloud region is part of Google Cloud's global network of 40 regions that caters to large enterprises, startups and public entities. Google Cloud recently added Berlin, Germany, as well as Saudi Arabia and South Africa to its global cloud network, the company said on its website.
"Expanding our cloud and data center infrastructure in Midlothian and Red Oak reflects our confidence in the state's ability to lead in the digital economy," Yolande Piazza, Google Cloud's vice president of financial service, said in a statement. “Together with Texas's talent and vibrant customer base, we'll meet growing demand for Google Cloud and AI to help shape the future of technology."
Google also announced Thursday that it has signed long-term power purchase agreements with Elawan, Engie NA, Grupo Cobra and X-Elio for 375 megawatts of solar energy in Texas to help power its operations across the state. The agreements will help Google reach its goal of running on carbon-free energy on every power grid where it operates by 2030.
Google's decision to add to its bandwidth in Texas comes amid scrutiny of the state's electric grid. Texas is the only U.S. state with its own electric grid, which is operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The grid operator warned residents of the possibility of rolling blackouts at the start of the summer heat wave. But the summer got even more complicated once Hurricane Beryl rolled through the Houston region, cutting electricity for millions of residents for days.
The amount of carbon-free energy Google used to power its Texas data centers in the ERCOT grid region nearly doubled in 2023 to 79% from 41% in 2022, according to the statement. Google did not immediately respond to CoStar News when asked if the company had concerns about the state's electric grid.
"As the company continues to grow, it will focus on energy innovation and exploration to implement cutting-edge generation and grid-enhancing technologies, to help build a more advanced grid for the future," Google officials said in the statement.
Texas Investments
To date, Google has invested more than $2.7 billion in Texas, including the company's data center campuses in North Texas. The campuses have been scaling up over time, including Red Oak about 19 miles south of downtown Dallas. Midlothian and Red Oak are small suburbs located about 19 miles away from each other on the southern side of the Dallas-Fort Worth region, the nation's fourth-largest metropolitan area with more than 8.1 million residents.
Google's recent power purchase agreements for 375 megawatts represents enough power for the entire population of Midlothian by more than 10 times, and could light up more than 26 cities the size of Red Oak.
Terms of the power purchase agreements were not disclosed. Google said it has contracted with energy partners to bring more than 2,800 megawatts of wind and solar projects to Texas over an unspecified time.
Last year, Google said it provided more than $47 billion of economic activity to hundreds of Texas businesses and entities. The company also has helped train more than 1 million residents in digital skills through its partnerships with 590 organizations, including libraries and community colleges, in the region.
The search engine giant has had a presence in Texas since 2007 and has offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston.