The power will come from the Holtwood and Safe Harbor plants, about 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Philadelphia, with 670 MW of generating capacity for 20 years, according to a statement.
Hyperscalers – the biggest data center developers that in addition to Google include Amazon, Microsoft Corporation and Meta Platforms – have voracious appetites for electricity, and finding power supplies currently is one of the most critical pain points for the AI boom. The demand has revived enthusiasm for nuclear energy, caused the biggest buildout of gas generation in decades and boosted orders for new big turbines.
The Brookfield-Google deal is part of an announcement of $70 billion of artificial intelligence and energy investments to be revealed Tuesday by the Trump administration. While the White House has taken steps to advance in the global AI race, US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, executive moves and recent legislation ending tax incentives for renewable energy threaten to hobble that effort.
The Google-Brookfield contracts are the first in a framework agreement as Google seeks to procure as much as 3,000 megawatts of hydropower from Brookfield, primarily on two adjacent grids stretching from the upper Midwest to the Gulf Coast and Mid-Atlantic states. The agreement is dubbed the first of it’s kind and the world’s largest corporate clean power deal for hydroelectricity.
Google said the deal will support its data centers and contribute to its carbon-free power goal as it tries to match energy consumption with clean resources on an hourly basis. Hydropower is attractive because output can in part be controlled to back up intermittent wind and solar. It provides round-the-clock power, unlike renewables.
While the Pennsylvania hydroelectric plants already supply the regional grid, the contracts will support Brookfield’s relicensing efforts to extend operations. Brookfield will consider expanding its hydropower portfolio through upgrades or acquisitions depending on Google’s needs, the developer said.
Last year, Brookfield announced a similar collaborative agreement with Microsoft to build more than 10.5 GW of renewable capacity in the US and Europe from 2026 to 2030. That deal was tied to wind and solar, Brookfield said in an emailed statement.
