Google Continues Its Massive Power Grab | The Motley Fool

Alphabet (GOOG 0.80%)(GOOGL 0.80%) subsidiary Google needs a massive amount of electricity to power its data centers supporting Google Cloud and Google Gemini. Traditional data centers consume 10 to 50 times more energy per floor space than a typical office building. Meanwhile, an average query using an AI chatbot like ChatGPT consumes nearly 10 times as much electricity as a Google search.

That’s leading Google to lock up as much future power supply as it can. The company recently signed power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Clearway Energy Group for nearly 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of carbon-free energy, adding to its massive power grab.

Securing more power

Clearway Energy Group (CEG), the parent company of clean power producer Clearway Energy (CWEN +1.95%)(CWEN.A +2.11%), signed three new long-term PPAs with Google. The PPAs encompass 1.17 GW of carbon-free energy via projects in Missouri, Texas, and West…