Google’s data centres have seen their electricity consumption more than double over the past four years, reaching approximately 30.8 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2024, up from 14.4 million MWh in 2020.
This power surge displays the expansion of Google’s cloud services and AI applications, with data centres now accounting for nearly 96% of the company’s total electricity use. Estimates suggest that a decade ago, in 2014, data centres consumed just over 4 million MWh, marking a sevenfold increase in ten years.
Despite improvements in energy efficiency, with Google’s power usage effectiveness (PUE) nearing the ideal of 1.0, further gains have slowed. In 2024, the PUE was 1.09, showing only marginal improvement from previous years. As efficiency improvements plateau, Google must increase its energy supply, prioritising carbon-free sources to meet its sustainability commitments.
To achieve this, Google is investing in renewable energy, geothermal power, and nuclear technologies. Geothermal offers reliable, weather-independent electricity, with startups like Fervo Energy advancing enhanced geothermal systems.
On the nuclear front, Google has invested in Commonwealth Fusion Systems, securing 200 megawatts from its planned fusion plant expected in the early 2030s, and committed to 500 megawatts from Kairos Power’s small modular reactors. However, these nuclear projects will not deliver power for several years.
In the meantime, Google has signed contracts for over 8 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, including large solar farms in the U.S., and is investing $20 billion in carbon-free power projects. Nonetheless, the intermittent nature of solar and wind energy poses challenges in matching supply to demand precisely.
Michael Terrell, Google’s head of advanced energy, stated, “When we announced to the world that we would achieve that 100% annual matching goal, we were very clear that wasn’t the end state. The end game was 24/7 carbon-free energy around the clock everywhere we operate at all times.”