Google has agreed to secure as much as 3 gigawatts of US hydropower in the world’s largest corporate clean power pact for hydroelectricity, the company said recently, as Big Tech pursues the expansion of energy-hungry data centres. The deal between Google and Brookfield Asset Management includes initial 20-year power purchase agreements, totaling $3 billion, for electricity generated from two hydropower facilities in Pennsylvania. The tech giant will also invest $25 billion in data centres across Pennsylvania and neighbouring states over the next two years. The technology industry is intensifying the hunt for massive amounts of clean electricity to power data centres needed for artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which has driven US power consumption to record highs after nearly two decades of stagnation. Source: https://www.thehindu.com/