Google has announced its largest-ever purchase of solar power and battery storage, a project so massive it could power about 6% of Arkansas's peak demand. That's right - Arkansas, not some solar-panel-covered utopia. The first two phases of the Steel River Energy Center, located about 30 miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, will add 1 gigawatt of solar capacity and 1.9 gigawatt-hours of battery storage to Google's portfolio. When all three phases are complete by 2029, the facility will boast 1.8 gigawatts of solar and 2.9 gigawatt-hours of storage, making it the largest solar facility in the United States. Developer Cypress Creek Energy has secured $3.5 billion in financing for the first two phases.

Google is both investing alongside Cypress Creek and purchasing the entire output of the first two phases. The electricity will flow directly to the grid, offsetting demand from Google's data centers. By pairing solar panels with large batteries, the plant will provide power around the clock, helping Google match its electricity use with clean power on an hourly basis - a stringent goal that should encourage more hybrid power plants.

This announcement lands roughly 40 miles north of xAI's unpermitted natural gas power plant in Mississippi, which Elon Musk is running with nearly 60 gas turbines without federal clean air permits. According to Reuters, pollution from that plant is disproportionately affecting predominantly Black neighborhoods. Musk, despite running Tesla - a company that makes solar panels and grid-scale batteries - has doubled down on gas, recently purchasing APR Energy, a modular gas plant developer. Google has also dabbled in gas, partnering with Crusoe on a 933-megawatt plant in West Texas, but that appears to be an anomaly. With the Steel River project deploying nearly 2 gigawatts of solar in three years, Google seems likely to keep betting on renewables. Meanwhile, Musk is over there firing up turbines like it's 1999.