The California Public Utilities Commission has repeatedly postponed a vote on an agreement between PG&E and Google to connect a 250-megawatt data center in San Jose, roughly equivalent to the entire electricity load of Marin County. A draft resolution includes a proposed requirement for Google to pay $600,000 per megawatt in advance infrastructure costs, which would total up to $150 million; Elise Torres, assistant attorney at utility watchdog The Utility Reform Network, said both PG&E and Google appear unhappy with that provision. PG&E contends the grid upgrades were already planned and would benefit thousands of homes and businesses regardless of the Google project. The commission's eventual ruling is expected to signal how it will handle Rule 30, a broader set of proposed standards for connecting large electricity customers to the transmission grid.
The commission's decision on the $150 million cost-recovery provision will establish whether large data center operators can be required to pay upfront infrastructure costs rather than passing those expenses to other ratepayers, a first for data centers in California if adopted. The outcome will likely shape how the CPUC applies Rule 30 to future large-load interconnection requests, with consequences for how data center growth is financed and who bears the cost of grid expansion across the state.
A specific proposed mega data center in a major US market (Silicon Valley) drawing documented energy and environmental concerns is a distinct impact story not covered in the already-published list.