Used by: Google
CEO: Sundar Pichai
Revenue: US$305.6bn (2023)

Google’s data centres are increasingly powered by solar energy as part of the company’s commitment to carbon neutrality. The tech giant is currently working towards powering all of its data centres with carbon-free energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week by 2030. 

For example, in Denmark, the Rødby Fjord solar project adds carbon-free energy to the grid that powers Google Fredericia data centre — adding 54.5MW to the more than 100MW of operational solar resources that power Google’s operations in Denmark.

Google’s VP Engineering Ben Sloss says: “Google expects to spend US$16bn through 2040 globally to purchase clean energy.”

In 2023, Google’s total data centre electricity consumption grew by 17% despite it maintaining a 100% global renewable energy match.

Over in Arizona, USA, Google has an energy supply agreement with Salt River Project (SRP)  to support more than 430MW of new carbon-free energy capacity across the state following the launch of its Mesa data centre.

“With this new agreement we are not just offsetting our energy use but also actively working to add carbon-free energy capacity directly to Arizona’s grid when and where it’s needed,” says Amanda Peterson Corio, Global Head of Data Center Energy at Google. 

“The collaboration with SRP and NextEra Energy Resources is accelerating decarbonisation in Arizona and our own carbon-free journey in the region.”

8. Solar-powered water desalination