Google eyes natural gas as AI power demand outpaces clean energy

Driving the news: Google and Crusoe Energy are partnering to build a data center campus in North Texas called "Goodnight," powered largely by a massive on-site natural gas plant alongside a wind farm, according to permits, satellite images and other documents reviewed by Cleanview, a market intelligence platform.

State of play: A Google representative confirmed to Michael Thomas, Cleanview's founder and report author, that it is partnering with Crusoe on the Texas data center.

• But whether Google will buy power from the gas plant — and if so, how much — remains unresolved, according to the report.

A Google spokeswoman told Axios it doesn't have a contract in place for the Texas gas plant and declined to comment on if or when it might.

• In an interview last week with Axios about its overall strategy, a top Google executive pointed to the various clean-energy projects it's announced for its data center push, including geothermal, fusion, advanced nuclear reactors and batteries.
• "I do think our public projects provide a good roadmap into how we're thinking about solving this challenge," Michael Terrell, Google's head of advanced energy, said in an interview last week on the sidelines of the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston.
• When asked about where natural gas fits into the company's strategy, Terrell said: "We don't have anything to say on that."

The big picture: The AI race is accelerating, with climate goals slipping further down the priority list as Big Tech companies scramble to secure power, Thomas said.

• Microsoft just announced a gas-powered data center deal with Chevron, and Meta is planning seven natural gas plants for what would be the largest U.S. power facility.

The intrigue: Google leads the tech industry in deploying clean energy for its AI ambitions, which may invite sharper scrutiny of its new consideration of natural gas.

• "Many climate activists will see Google exploring natural gas as a sort of betrayal," said Thomas, whose report is one of the most comprehensive reviews of the tech giant's data center strategy to date.
• "There's no doubt that it would be in tension with the company's stated 'moonshot' goal of becoming carbon-free by 2030," he added. "But it's also true that Google is voluntarily investing more in clean energy technology than almost any other entity — public or private — in the world."

Reality check: Google is widely seen as the tech company doing the most to advance clean energy for data centers, both traditional renewable energy and also next-gen tech.

• It's investing in fusion, advanced nuclear, geothermal, carbon capture on natural gas plants and energy storage — and even working to restart a shuttered nuclear plant.

What they're saying: Still, partners of Google say natural gas is the first choice today.

• "It's the power source that is most scalable and available today," Cully Cavness, co-founder and president of Crusoe, said about natural gas in an interview last week at CERAWeek.
• Cavness declined to comment on any natural gas projects with Google: "If we haven't announced it, we can't really comment."

• A Crusoe spokesperson didn't return requests for additional comment.

Between the lines: The AI boom is sharpening a core tension in the energy transition.

• It's often framed as a shift from fossil fuels to clean energy. In practice, it's an addition: Clean energy is layered on top of an economy still heavily powered by fossil fuels.
• Google is demonstrating that dynamic at a company scale. It's aggressively pursuing clean energy — while also considering natural gas to meet surging demand.

"It's not really the case that installing gas is displacing the others," Cavness said about clean energy sources. "It truly is all of the above that is required and maybe not even sufficient for the foreseeable future."

How it works: Natural gas burns more cleanly than coal, but it still emits greenhouse gases and contributes to local air pollution.

• That tension is now colliding with AI's surging power demand, reviving debate over how much gas should underpin the next wave of data centers.

By the numbers: The Goodnight campus could cost nearly $30 billion, according to Cleanview.

• The gas plant would approach one gigawatt (roughly the power demand of a mid-sized city) and emit about 4.5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, more than many major U.S. cities, according to Cleanview.
• The project also has a wind farm with a capacity of 265 megawatts, and space dedicated to battery storage that Cleanview estimates could reach one gigawatt.

Yes, but: Google cut its data center energy emissions 12% in 2024 from the prior year — even as its power consumption rose 27%, according to its latest environmental report released in June.

The bottom line: Google's climate goals — and a warming planet — will be increasingly tested by the AI boom and a growing reliance on natural gas.

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