Google has signed a deal to buy all the electricity from a major solar project. This is reported by The Financial Times. The search giant will take 100 percent of the initial production of the Steel River Energy Center in Arkansas. The facility is scheduled to be launched in 2029. We are talking about 1.6 gigawatts of solar energy. The project also includes 2 GW of battery storage. This capacity is enough to power 315,000 homes. Google will pay a fixed cost for electricity from the solar plant. The company will not use this energy directly. Instead, Google will continue to take energy from the shared network. The network is powered by a mixture of coal, nuclear energy and renewable sources. It also uses natural gas and its own sources on the site. These are usually gas turbines and engines.

The energy from the Steel River Energy Center project will become part of this grid mix. Upon completion, the plant will generate 2.45 GW of solar energy. The facility will also provide storage of 2.9 GWh in batteries. The first two phases of the three received $3.5 billion in financing. The project gave priority to American-made steel. Locally produced solar panels are also used. Google's electricity consumption increased by 37 percent last year. This raised network-related emissions by exactly the same amount. Other tech giants are facing a similar situation. Amazon and other companies are experiencing a surge in energy consumption. Data centers provide artificial intelligence systems.

Much of the energy comes from fossil sources. This further increased CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The recent heatwaves in Europe would have been virtually impossible without climate change. Scientists announced this last month. About 10,000 excess deaths were recorded in Europe during the June heat waves. Tech giants are turning to clean energy projects. They are trying to compensate for the production of fossil fuels. This is a controversial practice that some experts consider ineffective. Google is committed to reducing the carbon footprint of its operations. The company invests in renewable energy sources. This is an important step in the fight against global climate change.