Major solar project in Texas begins to power Google data centers

HOUSTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) — SB Energy Global said on Friday that its major solar project in Texas has begun commercial operations, which will help power Google data centers as the tech giant’s largest solar energy investment worldwide.
The Orion Solar Belt, one of the largest solar projects in the United States, totals 875 MWdc of energy capacity and utilizes over 1.3 million U.S.-made modules, steel and other major components, PR Newswire reported.
The project is estimated to have employed about 3,000 workers through component manufacturing and construction, it added.
“We hope the Orion Solar Belt serves as a catalyst for growing investments in a robust American-made supply chain for solar,” said Rich Hossfeld, SB Energy co-CEO.
SB Energy’s projects are delivering electricity to the Texas grid and helping power Google’s data centers in Ellis County and its Dallas cloud region.
Earlier this year, Google announced plans to invest more than 1 billion U.S. dollars in Texas to support its cloud and data centers and help meet growing demand for Google Cloud and AI, as well as other services including Search, Maps, and Workspace.
Google plans to invest 16 billion dollars globally in clean energy by 2040, Google executive Ben Sloss said at the project’s ribbon cutting.
The International Energy Agency projects that data centers’ electricity consumption could exceed 1,000 terawatt-hours by 2026, more than double the amount used in 2022.
One terawatt-hour is estimated to power 70,000 homes for a year.
Texas leads the country in both total energy consumption and installed renewable energy capacity. Currently, Texans get nearly 30 percent of their energy from renewable energy resources. The U.S. state has 70 gigawatts of installed solar, wind and energy storage capacity. ■