Google said it has made its largest solar power and battery storage purchase to date. The first two phases of the project, located in Arkansas, will generate enough electricity to power about 6% of the state’s peak demand, the company said earlier this week.
Electricity from the project will flow directly to the grid, offsetting demand from Google’s data centers. Google is both investing in the project alongside developer Cypress Creek Energy and purchasing the entire output of the first two phases, adding 1 gigawatt of solar capacity and 1.9 gigawatt-hours of battery storage to its portfolio.
When completed, the three-phase project will be the largest solar facility in the United States, the companies said. The third and final phase of the project is scheduled to connect to the grid in 2029, bringing the power plant’s total capacity to about 1.8 gigawatts of solar and 2.9 gigawatt-hours of battery storage. Cypress Creek has secured $3.5 billion in financing to support the first two phases.
The Steel River Energy Center, as the project is called, will be located about 30 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee. By pairing solar panels with large batteries, the power plant will be able to provide power to the grid all day, every day. It will also help Google in its quest to match its electricity use with clean power on an hourly basis, a stringent measure that should help bring more hybrid power plants to the grid.
