Internet search giant Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) wants to ramp up its involvement in the energy industry, according to a filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (.pdf) in late December. But the question remains, how far do their aspirations extend into the utility-scale energy market, if at all.

The filing alludes to a desire to trade in the wholesale energy market, going beyond its current role as an investor in alternative-energy technologies and a participant in energy trading that helps it hedge against its own exposure to energy costs borne from its massive server farms that command large amounts of energy to keep its volumes of data accessible.

“I have heard that Google is looking to dip their foot in the waters of energy and eventually if things are favorable for them get into the business fully with Google Energy, LLC, which means power plant operation,” said one energy professional who didn't want to be named.

“Obviously this [would] be down the line because no one jumps in head-first.”

Google, however, is mum on its potential to become a power plant owner at any point going forward.

“Google is interested in procuring more renewable energy as part of our carbon neutrality commitment, and the ability to buy and sell energy on the wholesale market could give us more flexibility in doing so,” explained Google spokesperson Niki Fenwick.

“We made [the FERC] filing so we can have more flexibility in procuring power for Google's own operations, including our data centers, which is how this is different from philanthropic Google.org investments. FERC authority would improve our ability to hedge our purchases of energy and incorporate renewables into our energy portfolio, but we haven't been involved in the energy trading market to date.”

The company's FERC filing notes that it does not “own or control any wholesale power generation facilities in North America,” and “[a]ccordingly, Google lacks generation market power and cannot bar entry to the market by virtue of generation market power.”

What the company does control is volumes of proprietary data. In fact, Google's own blog post about its energy partnership with General Electric in 2008 observes the degree of impact it thinks raw data can have on the moribund energy market. “[W]e're joining forces with GE to use technology, information and corporate resources to drive the changes necessary to empower consumers with better energy choices,” Google Energy Policy Counsel Michael Terrell wrote on its official blog in 2008.

Google is also accustomed to turning its raw data into useable data. And, “controlling power consumption in commercial buildings, industrial sites and homes is largely a task that should be handed off to large computing rooms,” wrote Greentech Media's Michael Kanellos in a column aptly titled “Why Google Wants to Be a Utility”.

Google's capital investments in alternative energy technologies amounts to $45 million since 2007 and include solar, wind, and geothermal technologies. GE is among the largest producers of simple-cycle and combined-cycle power plants.

Andrew Graham (bio) is a writer and media contact in New York. He is on Twitter and writes a blog about global affairs. Andrew is the New York correspondent for Green Technology Daily and writes about green technology, renewable energy issues and sustainability. You can contact Andrew This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Google lean towards green!
written by Monty, March 03, 2010

when i 1st saw this in the news i thought Google were taking yet another step towards world domination; after search, online videos, email, the new google phone, the forthcoming google OS, google buzz, etc... "do they want to become the premier power supplier in the US too?" I breathed a sigh of relief when I realised it was purely to make their own energy more cost efficient in the same way many other large companies have done. It appears that wholesale energy procurement is way forward for many large companies, especially in the current economic climate. For 'ethical' companies it makes sense i suppose... as this allows them to choose where their energy comes from if they 'lean towards the green'

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