Google’s largest clean energy purchase contrasts with xAI’s unpermitted gas plant

Google announced its largest-ever solar and battery storage purchase, a project in Arkansas that it says will offset data-center demand, while xAI operates an unpermitted natural gas plant nearby.

• Google said it will invest alongside developer Cypress Creek Energy in the Steel River Energy Center, which will add 1 gigawatt of solar capacity and 1.9 gigawatt-hours of battery storage in its first two phases.
• Cypress Creek Energy has secured $3.5 billion in financing for the first two phases; the full three-phase project is scheduled to connect to the grid in 2029 and would become the largest U.S. solar facility, the companies said.
• Reuters reported that xAI is running nearly 60 natural gas turbines without federal clean air permits at its Colossus data center in Mississippi, affecting predominantly Black neighborhoods.
• Elon Musk purchased APR Energy, a developer specializing in modular natural gas power plants, according to the source.