Dive Brief:
- Google announced Wednesday a novel plan to take over an old coal plant and use it as the site for its newest data center, while partnering with the Tennessee Valley Authority to bring in more renewable energy.
- Google has designs on going 100% renewable, and said this project – its 14th data center globally – would contribute to that goal.
- Widows Creek began generating power in the early 1950s, but its last unit will shut down in October.
Dive Insight:
Google's decision to repurpose an old coal factory in Alabama sends a strong message about its commitment to the transition away from fossil fuels.
The company has recently expanded its data centers in Iowa and Georgia, as well as abroad, but said “this time, we’re doing something we’ve never done before.” On its news blog, the internet giant announced plans to build on the grounds of the Widows Creek coal power plant in Jackson County, Alabama.
According to the company, the location is more than just symbolic. The coal plant actually offers Google a lot of usable equipment and access to the grid that the company would usually have to build itself.
“Data centers need a lot of infrastructure to run 24/7, and there’s a lot of potential in redeveloping large industrial sites like former coal power plants. Decades of investment shouldn’t go to waste just because a site has closed,” Google officials wrote. “We can repurpose existing electric and other infrastructure to make sure our data centers are reliably serving our users around the world.”
The company said it is partnering with Tennessee Valley Authority, its electric utility, to seek new renewable energy projects and bring that power onto TVA's system.
“Ultimately, this contributes to our goal of being powered by 100% renewable energy,” the company wrote. Since 2010, Google says it has purchased the equivalent of over 1.5% of the installed wind power capacity in the U.S.
The company also said its planned data center will incorporate new energy efficiency technologies.
“Of course, the cleanest energy is the energy you don’t use. ... We’ve built our own super-efficient servers, invented more efficient ways to cool our data centers, and even used advanced machine learning to squeeze more out of every watt of power we consume,” Google wrote. “Compared to five years ago, we now get 3.5 times the computing power out of the same amount of energy.”
According to TVA, the Widows Creek facility is closing "due to a changing regulatory and economic environment," meaning that cheap natural gas and EPA air quality regulations have cut into its profitability. Originally constructed with eight generating units, the seventh and final is slated to shut down in October. Unit 7 has a capacity of 460 MW.