Google's geothermal electricity is a milestone in clean energy

Google announced on Tuesday that a sophisticated geothermal electricity project has begun to supply carbon-free electricity to power Google's data centers in Nevada.

Google said on Tuesday that an advanced geothermal project has started to feed carbon-free electricity through the state of Nevada's grid to power Google data facilities there. The first time electrons are put on the grid is a milestone that many start-up energy companies never accomplish, according to Tim Latimer, CEO and co-founder of Fervo Energy, a Houston-based geothermal partner in the Google project.

Geothermal energy has long been seen as a viable countermeasure to climate change by the International Energy Agency. In a 2011 roadmap document, it was said that by 2050, geothermal energy may account for around 3.5% of the world's electricity generation yearly, saving almost 800 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

With the help of this initial pilot, Fervo plans to start more initiatives that will supply the grid with a lot more electricity that is carbon-free. In southwest Utah, it is now finishing up the preliminary drilling for a 400-megawatt project. In 2021, Google and Fervo Energy began collaborating on the development of next-generation geothermal power. Now that it's up and running for business, the site outside Winnemucca, Nevada, is feeding the grid with roughly 3.5-megawatts.

Google is considering the use of geothermal energy for additional data centers across the globe as part of its portfolio of carbon-free technologies, according to Michael Terrell, who oversees the company's global decarbonization initiatives.