Google invests $1.5 billion in Alabama data center

Google will invest $1.5 billion to expand its data center campus in Jackson County, Alabama, with the investment scheduled to roll out across 2026 and 2027. The expansion reinforces the company's commitment to covering all associated power and infrastructure costs, a move aligned with a federal initiative to protect local utility customers from bearing the financial burden of such facilities.

The campus, operational since 2019, is built on the site of the Tennessee Valley Authority's retired Widows Creek coal plant, allowing Google to repurpose existing electrical infrastructure. To date, the company has contracted to bring over 300 megawatts of new power capacity to the Tennessee Valley region. For future energy needs, Google has a partnership with Kairos Power and the TVA, announced in August 2025, to supply up to 50 megawatts of advanced nuclear power to its data centers in Alabama and Tennessee. Initial estimates place the completion of the related Kairos Power plant around 2035.

A central component of the announcement is Google's financial commitment to local ratepayers. The company stated it will cover 100% of the power it uses and the infrastructure costs directly driven...