Governor Patrick Morrisey announced on Friday, March 27, that Google has purchased land near Buffalo in Putnam County and has received approval for a multibillion-dollar High Impact Development Project. The project is a data center.
Google data centers exist for the purpose of profit. Google profits by providing products like Google Workspace (Gmail, Drive, Docs, and more), Google Cloud, Search, and YouTube for billions of people around the world. Data centers need massive amounts of water to cool down the thousands of servers which they house. Every electronic transaction requires the transfer of energy — all transfers are imperfect and create heat losses. Google uses water to transfer heat away. The amount of water needed is massive because there are billions of Google users.
How much water will the data center use? Google purchased the 1,700 acre tract because it borders the Kanawha River which features a 12,300-square-mile drainage basin that includes parts of North Carolina and Virginia in addition to large areas in West Virginia. Google is confident that the Kanawha River will more than meet its needs.
Google data centers require a massive amount of electric power. Where will this power come from? Google AI provided the following answer:
“Google powers its data centers by matching 100% of its annual electricity consumption with renewable energy, primarily through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) for solar, wind, and hydropower. The company is actively moving toward 24/7 carbon-free energy (CFE) by 2030, using technologies like advanced geothermal, battery storage, and investing in next-gen nuclear energy.
“Key energy initiatives and partnerships for Google data centers include: Solar & Wind Expansion: TotalEnergies will provide 1 GW of solar capacity from Texas projects to support operations, along with another 1.2 GW through Clearway.
“Nuclear Energy: Google signed the first corporate agreement for multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) from Kairos Power to provide clean, reliable energy by 2035.
“Grid Partnership: Xcel Energy is supplying power for a new Minnesota data center, utilizing a unique tariff to ensure clean energy growth without increasing costs for residents.
“Energy Storage: The company is investing in battery projects to manage energy load and boost grid reliability.
“Demand Response: Data centers are increasingly utilizing AI to adjust energy usage based on real-time grid conditions, ensuring they do not put undue strain on local grids.
“Google’s ultimate goal is to power its operations with clean energy 24/7, every hour of every day, requiring real-time tracking of energy sources on local grids.”
