By Tom Kleckner
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Google, the world’s ubiquitous search engine — “Google it!” — made its SPP membership official when it participated in October’s Markets and Operations Policy Committee.
The company, which signed a membership agreement in May, observed two MOPC meetings before casting its first vote on the consent agenda. Jeff Riles, Google’s lead for global infrastructure energy policy and markets, contributed to the stakeholders’ discussions when it centered on renewable energy and transmission costs.
Riles, an energy regulatory attorney formerly with Enel, represents Google under the Google Energy brand, which was created to reduce parent company Alphabet’s energy consumption and to produce and sell clean energy. Google joins Walmart as SPP’s only two end-use customer members. (See New SPP Member Walmart Eyes ‘Everyday Low Costs.’)
He said Google joined SPP because of the company’s energy procurement needs and plans to grow its businesses within SPP’s footprint.
“As a consumer, we recognize the benefits that wholesale, competitive power markets provide,” Riles said. “What’s happening here will impact our business. Google wants to follow market developments in SPP and have a voice in its future.”
Google leads SPP’s corporate buyers with 1,135 MW of purchase power agreements, almost quadruple that of T-Mobile and Facebook’s 320 MW apiece.
Riles noted Google has load and “pretty significant” renewable projects in SPP’s footprint. The corporation has already invested $2.4 billion in an Oklahoma data center, and it broke ground earlier this month on a $600 million data center in Nebraska with more load than the nearby city of Lincoln (excluding Cornhusker gamedays). The facility will be powered by 100% renewable energy when it is operational in two years.
In September, Google announced a 1,600-MW package of renewable deals across the U.S., Europe and Chile that it calls the largest corporate renewables purchase ever. The purchase will increase its total wind and solar agreements by more than 40%, the company said.
