Google invests in natural gas power plants with carbon capture technology

Technology giant Google (285.34, 0.59, 0.21%) (Google, stock code GOOG) announced on Thursday that it has signed its first corporate agreement to purchase electricity from a power plant in the United States that uses carbon capture and storage technology. This collaboration aims to provide energy support for its data centers located in the Midwest region of the United States.

Large tech companies are planning to vigorously develop technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, which require massive amounts of electricity consumption. However, the current reality of power shortages in the US power grid highlights the contradiction between the two.

This situation has prompted companies such as Google to announce in recent months that they will fund new and expanded power plant projects across the United States.

The energy cooperation agreement recently reached by Google covers multiple fields, including purchasing electricity from advanced nuclear reactors, geothermal and hydropower projects. Meanwhile, Google is also collaborating with PJM Interconnection, the largest power grid operator in the United States (7.31, -0.45, -5.80%), which covers the most densely populated areas of data centers worldwide, to accelerate the integration of new power supply.

The latest power purchase agreement signed by Google involves a 400 MW power plant located in Decatur, Illinois. The power plant is developed by the privately held Low Carbon Infrastructure company and is expected to be put into operation in the early 2030s. The power generation process will adopt carbon capture technology, which can capture about 90% of carbon dioxide emissions and inject them into underground storage.

Michael Terrell, the head of Google's advanced energy division, stated that "natural gas power generation that can capture and store carbon dioxide" has always been a missing link in the current energy layout.

For a long time, we have been focused on promoting the development of clean energy technologies with 24-hour uninterrupted power supply, and (natural gas power generation with carbon capture) is an important piece of this puzzle, "Terrell said." This is a critical technology that is urgently needed globally

This power generation project, named 'Broadwing', will be built on an existing industrial site owned by Archer Daniels Midland (56.72, 0.43, 0.76%), an agricultural conglomerate. Since 2017, ADM has been injecting carbon dioxide generated during ethanol production into underground storage. In the future, ADM will also have the right to purchase electricity from the power plant, and the initial output of electricity from the power plant will be connected to the public grid.

Google and low-carbon infrastructure companies have announced plans to advance the construction of more carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities within the United States, but have not disclosed specific site locations and timing plans.