Google bets on carbon capture to greenify gas power
Google just announced it has agreed to purchase power from the Broadwing Energy Center, a new gas-fired power plant in Illinois, to help meet its data center energy needs.
The catch? It's a gas-fired plant, but with carbon capture and storage (CCS) tech that locks away CO2 underground instead of releasing it into the air.
Starting in 2030, Google will buy most of the plant's 400MW output, aiming to advance CCS technology—even though CCS projects in the US haven't always worked out due to high costs.
Google is willing to pay a premium for cleaner energy
Broadwing plans to store CO2 underground (not use it for oil), reportedly reducing emissions by up to 90%.
Still, natural gas plants can leak methane and other pollutants.
For Google, this is a strategic way to meet growing energy needs as data centers expand—especially since recent US policy changes have made renewables tougher and fossil fuels more appealing.
The electricity will cost more than solar or wind, but for Google, balancing reliability and sustainability is becoming a bigger challenge.