Alphabet acquires renewable energy company Intersect for $4.75B – News

Alphabet Inc. today inked a deal to acquire Intersect Power LLC for $4.75 billion in cash.

The Google LLC parent also plans to assume the renewable energy company’s outstanding debt. It expects to complete the transaction in the first half of 2026. According to the search giant, the deal is intended to expedite its data center construction efforts.

Founded in 2016, Intersect develops solar and wind power installations with on-site battery arrays. Those batteries ensure that there’s a steady supply of energy when power generation capacity is limited, such as when cloudy weather decreases solar panels’ output. Intersect’s website states that its completed and ongoing energy infrastructure projects represent 10.8 gigawatts of power generation capacity.

One of the sites the company is building was commissioned by Google last year. It’s a solar park in Haskell County, Texas, that will generate 640 gigawatts of power when it becomes fully operational in 2027. The installation is also set to host a battery-powered energy storage system with a capacity of 1.3 gigawatts.

The company plans to colocate the project with a Google data center campus. According to Intersect, that arrangement is more efficient than traditional approaches to supplying power for data centers. Placing energy generation equipment directly next to cloud infrastructure reduces the need for long-range power transmission lines, which can speed up construction.

The partnership saw Google co-lead a funding round for Intersect last December. The investment, which was worth more than $800 million, also included the participation of TPG Rise Climate, Climate Climate Adaptive Infrastructure and Greenbelt Capital Partners. The three investment firms will play an important role in Google’s newly announced $4.75 billion acquisition.

The search giant doesn’t plan to buy all of Intersect. It’s only acquiring the Haskell County solar park and a number of other power generation facilities Intersect is building in Texas. Its other projects, which include several gigawatts of planned energy generation capacity in California, will be spun off into an independent company. That company is set to be owned by the three investment firms that participated in Intersect’s funding round last year alongside Google.

After the deal closes, Intersect will operate as a standalone organization under the Alphabet umbrella. It’s set to keep its current brand and will continue to be led by founding Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Kimber.

“Intersect will help us expand capacity, operate more nimbly in building new power generation in lockstep with new data center load, and reimagine energy solutions to drive US innovation and leadership,” said Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai.

According to the search giant, Intersect’s work will see it “explore a range of emerging technologies to increase and diversify energy supply.” That hints the company might collaborate with the energy technology startups that are supporting Google’s electricity sourcing efforts.

Earlier month, Google joined a $462 million funding round into geothermal energy startup Fervo Energy Inc. The company boils water by pumping it into geothermal wells and uses the resulting steam to generate power. Fervo relies on fiber-optic cables installed in the wells to monitor their performance.

Last year, Google partnered with another energy startup called Kairos Power Inc that develops module nuclear reactors. The search giant plans to purchase energy from several Kairos reactors that will come online by 2035. Google expects the project to generate 500 megawatts of energy at full capacity. 

Image: Google