Hyperscalers are large technology companies that build and operate massive, globally distributed data center networks to provide cloud computing, storage, and networking services on an enormous scale. Examples include Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Alibaba.
These companies have spent billions of dollars over the past decade paying for electricity. They tend to locate their data centers in regions with plentiful electricity and have favored carbon-free electricity such as from hydroelectric dams. But increasingly, local utilities are simply not able to provide the amount of power needed.
As a result, tech companies are building their own on-site generation facilities, sometimes powered by natural gas and sometimes with solar power.
Over the past decade, Amazon built 40 data centers in Eastern Oregon, becoming by far the region’s largest consumer of electricity. But it continues to build data centers and just can’t buy enough from local utilities.
The forthcoming Sunstone Solar and Storage Project with 1.2 gigawatts of solar and 7.2 gigawatt-hours of battery capacity, when built will have the ability to power millions of homes. Puget Sound Energy, one of the largest utilities in the Pacific Northwest tried to purchase the project but was outbid by Amazon. So, Amazon will now operate the facility, claiming more than a billion dollars in federal tax credits.
Even with a multi-billion-dollar investment in the Sunstone facility, Amazon will likely need more power in Oregon. Amazon is no longer just a tech company; it is essentially an electric utility building some of the largest infrastructure projects in the country.
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References:
Why Amazon Is Building One of the Largest Solar Projects in America
