Google Gets Approval to Buy and Sell Electricity

Google is moving so fast in so many different markets that there are not that many things it could do that would prove surprising. Except maybe become a utility company, which is now within its rights to do. Google, or rather its subsidiary Google Energy, has been granted permission to become a wholesale electricity trader by the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Still, the company claims it has no plans to start adding electricity to the huge list of products and services it offers, but rather the move was made so it could buy more 'green energy' at a more competitive price.

The company quietly applied for a license late last year, after creating a new one, Google Energy, to handle electricity transactions for the web giant. At the time, Google said there was really not that much to the move, it wanted more flexibility in its energy purchases, enabling it to buy green electricity, from windmills, solar panels and the likes, in bulk, at a lower price.

Google already produces its own electricity for some of its data centers and powers its massive headquarters, the Googleplex, using a huge amount of solar panels mounted on the roofs and everywhere it could find a free spot. Still, the company's big number of data centers use up a lot of energy and Google wants to make sure that a big part of that energy comes from green sources.

Being able to buy it cheaper means it's one step closer to being carbon neutral, one of its long-term goals. After it has received the approval, Google insists that it has no plans to enter the market as a utility provider and that is really “less than meets the eye” to the whole thing. It's certainly not the first large US company to get a wholesale trader license for electricity and plenty of others have gone on this route to better manage their costs associated with energy consumption.