Google is locking in long-term electricity deals to power a new data center in the United States, turning to utilities AES Corp and Xcel Energy to secure dedicated, large-scale supplies of clean energy.
The agreements are designed to support a planned Google facility in Wilbarger County, Texas, and a new data center in Pine Island, Minnesota, while adding significant new generation capacity to the grid.
New Data Center Projects and Locations
AES Corp has signed a 20‑year agreement to supply power for Google’s upcoming data center in Wilbarger County, a rural area in north Texas. Under the deal, AES will develop co‑located generation and shared electrical infrastructure around the site, giving Google a dedicated power backbone as it scales its operations there. In Minnesota, Xcel Energy has reached a separate contract to power a new Google data center in Pine Island, a project that comes with a major build‑out of new clean energy resources.
The Xcel arrangement goes beyond serving a single customer and includes plans to bring 1,900 megawatts of new clean energy onto the grid in its service territory. Xcel has said that existing customers will not see higher bills from this structure because Google will pay the full costs tied to the new service and associated infrastructure.
Why Google is Moving Early on Power
The push to finalize these power supply deals comes as data centers, especially those running artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, contribute to a rapid increase in electricity demand across U.S. grids.
Utilities are investing heavily in new generation and transmission to meet that demand, and regulators are watching closely for impacts on household and business energy costs. By agreeing to long‑term contracts and taking on the cost of new infrastructure at these sites, Google is giving its new data centers more predictable access to power while helping its utility partners justify new clean‑energy projects.
Both AES and Xcel emphasize that the projects tied to Google’s new data center plans will lean on new clean generation, rather than relying only on existing capacity. Xcel’s program in Minnesota is structured to add large amounts of renewables and storage while keeping the impact on other ratepayers minimal.
A Broader Pattern in Google Energy Strategy
The surge in demand of AI data centers has led to rising electricity bills for residential customers in areas with heavy data center construction, which has further created public and regulatory pushback. For instance, U.S. President Donald Trump recently addressed Big Tech, telling them they have an “obligation to provide for their own power needs.”
Google’s latest agreements with AES and Xcel also follow earlier power purchase deals, including a 15‑year contract with TotalEnergies to supply around 1.5 terawatt‑hours of renewable electricity from the Montpelier solar farm in Ohio to support Google’s data center operations in the same state.
Taken together, the contracts with AES, Xcel, and other suppliers show Google continuing to pair new data center builds with long‑term, project‑backed energy commitments rather than relying solely on existing market supply, which are all aimed at meeting surging AI power demand.
