Google has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with TotalEnergies to secure 1.5 terawatt hours of renewable electricity from the company’s Montpelier solar farm in Ohio. The 15-year deal will supply power to Google’s expanding data center operations in the state, both companies announced this week.
The Montpelier facility, located in Williams County, is nearing completion and will operate on the PJM grid, the largest power system in the United States. Once operational, the site will have a maximum generation capacity of 50 megawatts. However, with Ohio’s photovoltaic capacity factor averaging just 19.2%, the solar farm is expected to produce approximately 84,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year.
Google’s contract calls for 100,000 megawatt hours annually over 15 years. This discrepancy suggests that TotalEnergies may expand the site’s capacity or supplement production with additional renewable assets in its U.S. portfolio.
TotalEnergies framed the agreement as part of its broader strategy to grow its renewable energy business and reduce exposure to the volatility of oil and gas markets. The company is currently deploying a 10-gigawatt portfolio of U.S. solar, wind, and battery storage projects. “This agreement illustrates TotalEnergies’s ability to meet the growing energy demands of major tech companies by leveraging its integrated portfolio of renewable and flexible assets,” said Stéphane Michel, President of Gas, Renewables & Power at TotalEnergies.
For Google, the deal supports its ongoing push to power its global infrastructure with carbon-free energy. Electricity demand has surged as cloud services and artificial intelligence workloads expand, increasing the need for reliable renewable power sources.
However, the agreement raises concerns that the majority of the Montpelier site’s output will be dedicated to Google’s data centers, leaving limited capacity to benefit local communities or other businesses. Similar arrangements across the U.S. have sparked debate over grid strain, rising energy costs, and the environmental impacts of significant data center developments, including water use and construction-related contamination.
Still, the decision to rely on solar power rather than fossil fuels has been viewed by some as a positive step. TotalEnergies continues to invest heavily in U.S. renewable projects despite policy and regulatory challenges, signaling sustained momentum for clean energy development in the region.
