A renewable energy company announced the launch of one of the largest solar projects in the U.S. on Friday, adding 875 megawatts of capacity to the Texas grid to help power Google’s growing data center presence in the state.
The project from California-based SB Energy, named the Orion Solar Belt, includes over 1.3 million solar modules located in Buckholts, Texas, which is about 70 miles north of Austin. To harness the project’s electricity, Google signed its largest-ever solar power purchase agreement.
“Building major infrastructure projects like this is what we do, but I would say these hold a special place in our heart,” said Rich Hossfeld, co-CEO of SB Energy at the ribbon-cutting event at the project site, according to a video posted online. “These are the first projects we built using 100 percent American-made product, [the] first projects we partnered with Google on, and hopefully the first of many to come that we can build in this area.”
The Orion Solar Belt consists of three separate solar farms. About 85 percent of its power will be used by Google for cloud computing in the Dallas area and data centers in Ellis County, which is about 41 miles south of the city.