By Laila Kearney
Publication Date: 2026-03-19 15:40:00
March 19, 2026, 11:40 a.m. ET
Google GOOGL.O has signed agreements with five U.S. electric utilities in states from Arkansas to Minnesota to curtail its electricity use during periods of peak demand, the company said on Thursday, in its latest effort to secure power for fast‑growing data centers amid slow additions of new supply.
Immediate access to large amounts of electricity has become one of the biggest obstacles in Big Tech’s race to expand artificial intelligence technologies, which are developed in energy‑intensive server warehouses known as data centers.
With power supplies running short in some regions of the country, and new infrastructure often taking years to build, technology companies have recently taken unusual steps that have included constructing new power plants or bringing shuttered nuclear units back online.
Under the “demand response” agreements, Google will…
