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Google Breaks Ground on Meitner Energy Center in Texas Panhandle

Pairing more than 1 gigawatt of on-site wind, solar and battery storage with a Google data center, the project aims to secure clean reliable power to cut pressure on local grids.

Overview

  • Google and Intersect have begun construction on the Meitner Energy Center, a co-located data center and generation complex sited in Gray and Roberts counties in the Texas Panhandle.
  • The site will combine over 1 GW of wind, solar and battery capacity and is planned to include roughly 3 gigawatt-hours of battery storage plus limited on-site gas for reliability.
  • The facility is being designed to run on clean power from day one, operate behind the meter and use air cooling to avoid on-site water withdrawals for cooling.
  • Construction support and worker housing are planned through an 800-acre Caprock Workforce Hub in nearby Wheeler County that could support up to 3,500 jobs during buildout.
  • The project follows Alphabet’s acquisition of Intersect and forms part of Google’s roughly $40 billion push into Texas cloud and AI infrastructure, reflecting a shift toward owning local generation to manage grid limits and interconnection risk.