Google’s Energy Plans
Kirjoitettu 8.1.2010, kategoria Polttoaineet, Sekalaista, Sähkö, Uutiset.
Google has done a good job throwing mainstream media reporters off of the scent when it comes to their recent filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The New York Times Bits Blog (which is a tech focused blog) seemed to take the following quote from a Google rep at face value.
“We want to have the ability to procure renewable energy to offset power usage of our operations,” said Niki Fenwick, a Google spokeswoman. Ms. Fenwick said that having access to more renewable energy could help the company fulfill its goal to become “carbon neutral.”
Well that’s what Ms. Fenwick said, but simply procuring renewable energy is probably not the end game here. Here’s why. In Google’s application they have applied to become a power marketer. That means they will be able to buy and sell electricity on the wholesale market. Okay, fine. But check out the following passage from the FERC filing.
In addition to engaging in sales of electricity that are unregulated by the Commission, Applicant proposes to act as a power marketer, purchasing electricity and reselling it to wholesale customers. Applicant may also engage in other, non-jurisdictional, activities to facilitate efficient trade in the bulk power market, such as arranging services in related areas such as transmission and fuel supplies.
That section of the filing clearly indicates that Google Energy plans to do much more than just purchase renewable energy. They plan to sell energy too. Later on in Section III, Paragraph D of the filing you’ll find the following statement.
Applicant requests authority to sell specified ancillary services that the Commission has authorized market-based entities to sell in the markets operated by…
They go on to list almost all of the organized electricity markets in the U.S. as places where they would like to sell ancillary services. For those not in the know, ancillary services involves providing services, such as energy reserves for example, to the electric grid that help to maintain the stability and security of the grid. We don’t need to delve too much further into the details of that to know that it goes beyond merely providing for Google’s own energy needs.
There are many options for Google Energy with respect to electric market participation if their application is approved by the FERC. It’s true that Google Energy could simply purchase electricity to meet their own needs and do nothing more. But Google could do that without becoming a power marketer. The filed application indicates that Google has even larger aspirations than just purchasing power from the markets. We’ll just have to wait and see.
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