Alphabet is set to acquire clean energy developer Intersect for $4.75 billion, plus assumed debt, as major technology companies step up spending to secure the power and computing capacity required to support artificial intelligence.
The deal comes amid rising electricity demand driven by the rapid expansion of generative AI, which has put pressure on US power grids and prompted Big Tech to invest heavily in energy infrastructure. Under the agreement, Alphabet will take ownership of Intersect’s energy and data centre projects that are either under construction or in development.
Intersect currently has around $15 billion of assets operating or under construction. By 2028, projects representing about 10.8 gigawatts of power are expected to be online or in development—more than 20 times the electricity generated by the Hoover Dam.
The acquisition builds on Alphabet’s growing footprint in the energy sector. Earlier this month, US utility NextEra expanded its partnership with Google Cloud to develop new energy supplies to support Google’s operations across the United States.
Alphabet, alongside TPG Rise Climate, was already an investor in Intersect, backing the company in a funding round of more than $800 million in December last year. That financing included plans to develop industrial parks combining gigawatts of data centre capacity with new clean energy plants.
Alphabet said Intersect would continue to operate as a separate business following the transaction. Intersect’s existing operating assets in Texas, as well as its operating and in-development assets in California, will not be included in the acquisition and will remain under an independent company supported by existing investors.
Among Intersect’s Texas projects is Quantum, a clean energy storage system being built alongside a Google data centre campus. Alphabet said Intersect would also explore a range of emerging technologies to diversify energy supply while supporting Google’s expanding US data centre investments.
