Today we’re announcing that Pine Island, Minnesota will be the future home of a Google data center. In collaboration with the city and Xcel Energy, we’re committed to bringing high-quality jobs, economic growth and education initiatives to the community.

With Xcel Energy supplying energy for the new data center, Google will pay all costs associated with our electric service. In order to accelerate clean energy deployment without shifting costs to local customers, Google and Xcel Energy designed a new contract structure in Minnesota, the Clean Energy Accelerator Charge (CEAC), a model that uses the same structure as the Clean Transition Tariff (CTT) Google developed with NV Energy.

The agreement includes adding an additional 1,400 megawatts (MW) of wind, 200 MW of solar and 300 MW of iron-air battery storage from Form Energy to Xcel’s grid, providing a thoughtfully designed grid balanced solution. As part of the CEAC, Google will also provide $50 million to bolster Xcel’s Capacity*Connect Program. This program is designed to put a distributed network of smaller batteries across Xcel’s system, increasing capacity and improving grid resilience. Google’s partnership with Xcel Energy reimagines how data centers can be served, enabling us to be a catalyst for electricity innovation and helping to ensure our growth supports a cleaner, more affordable energy future for the communities we call home. See more from Xcel Energy.