Google pushes data center growth with natural gas

Google is aggressively pursuing data center expansion across the United States, with a significant focus on powering these facilities with natural gas. A recent report by Cleanview, a market intelligence platform, highlighted Google's plans for a substantial "Goodnight" data center campus near Amarillo, Texas. This campus is part of a larger $40 billion investment and spans Armstrong and Haskell Counties. For the "Goodnight" campus, Google is partnering with Crusoe Energy to construct a 933 MW on-site natural gas plant. This plant, for which Crusoe filed a permit in January, is designed to power two buildings within the campus and will not connect to the broader Southwest Power Pool grid. The campus will also incorporate power from a wind farm. Concurrently, Google is furthering its data center projects in Oklahoma, including expanding an existing facility in Pryor and developing a new one in Stillwater. This rapid growth has triggered concerns among Oklahoma consumers and state utilities, such as Oklahoma Gas and Electric and Public Service Company of Oklahoma, regarding the strain on the electrical power grid and potential impacts on ratepayers. The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has also acknowledged these rising electricity demands from large-scale data centers, noting their unique scale and need for high reliability. Regulatory filings and discussions with the Commission underscore the challenges utilities face in meeting this escalating demand, despite the state's "behind-the-meter" law, which allows large loads to bypass certain grid requirements but doesn't mandate self-supply.