Google Gets Approval to Trade Electricity

A couple of month ago, I noted that Google was requesting approval to trade electricity in the US. Well, the approval has now been granted by the FERC.

Bloomberg reports:

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- [...] The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission voted today to authorize a Google subsidiary to buy and sell wholesale power. Google’s request was like those of “a large number of industrial companies” seeking to manage energy costs, Pamela Harvey, a FERC economist, said at a commission meeting in Washington.

Some of those companies include grocery chain Safeway Inc., consumer-products manufacturer Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Merck, the second largest U.S. drugmaker, Harvey said.

Google wants to reduce the cost of buying electricity from wind turbines and solar panels to help power its data centers, said Dan Reicher, the company’s director of energy and climate initiatives. There is “less than meets the eye” to Google’s foray into bulk power markets, he said. [...]