At Google, we’re advancing a broad portfolio of new energy technologies that can support our growth and enable a reliable, affordable, clean energy future.
When we published our strategy to advance the next generation of clean electricity sources, we identified a suite of technologies we would work to commercialize — setting the scene for pioneering agreements to procure enhanced geothermal, advanced nuclear and long duration energy storage. We also identified natural gas with carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a critical source of clean firm power and outlined stringent safety and environmental criteria we look for in potential CCS projects.
Today we’re excited to announce a first-of-its kind corporate agreement to support a gas power plant with CCS. Broadwing Energy, located in Decatur, Illinois, will capture and permanently store approximately 90% of its CO2 emissions. By agreeing to buy most of the power it generates, Google is helping get this new, baseload power source built and connected to the regional grid that supports our data centers.
We hope it will accelerate the path for CCS technology to become more accessible and affordable globally, helping to increase generating capacity while enabling emission reductions.
What is CCS?
If, like some of our data centers, you’re connected to the U.S. grid today, some of the power you consume comes from natural gas generation. CCS holds the promise to significantly reduce carbon emissions from gas power plants and provide clean, reliable power to electricity grids.
CCS works by capturing CO2 from a power plant or industrial facility and permanently storing it deep underground. Leading global institutions like The International Energy Agency (IEA) and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) agree that it is a valuable tool, because it can significantly reduce emissions from power generation and carbon-intensive industries like steel manufacturing and cement production.
Broadwing is the first project in a longer-term collaboration with project developer Low Carbon Infrastructure (LCI), a portfolio company of leading infrastructure investor, I Squared Capital, to develop future CCS facilities in the U.S. and demonstrate how to deploy CCS projects for power generation at commercial scale.
How does the Broadwing project work?
The Broadwing project is located at an industrial facility run by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), which has nearly a decade of experience safely storing CO2 from ethanol production. A new power plant with over 400 MW of generating capacity will be built on site, and the CO2 it generates will be permanently stored in ADM’s adjacent EPA-approved Class VI sequestration facilities more than a mile underground.
We look forward to helping Broadwing achieve commercial operation by early 2030. LCI has already engaged a broad range of community stakeholders in the development of the project and will continue to do so throughout its lifecycle. Broadwing is designed to meet rigorous safety and environmental standards and will bring significant benefits to the local community, including creating an estimated 750 full-time jobs over the next four years and supporting dozens of permanent jobs once the plant is running.
What’s next?
Our goal is to help bring promising new CCS solutions to the market while learning and innovating quickly — the same approach we’ve taken with other energy technologies. Our collaboration with LCI will help fast-track critical technical and operational improvements, from continuing to raise CO2 capture rates to improving system performance and economics.
Transparency will also be critical to ensure the environmental integrity of our projects. That’s why the project will incorporate a newly-released standard for CCS-specific Energy Attribute Certificates (EACs), developed by industry experts to ensure CCS projects can be accurately quantified in emissions reporting.
Harnessing AI’s immense potential responsibly will require a wide range of solutions. Alongside building our portfolio of advanced clean energy technologies, we are helping people manage emissions in key sectors — like transportation and energy — in transformational ways. In 2024 alone, just five of our AI-powered products helped our users collectively reduce an estimated 26 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent, roughly equivalent to the emissions from the annual energy use of over 3.5 million U.S. homes. This all adds up to helping create a bright future for people everywhere.
