A sign at the Google Midlothian Data Center, Friday, November 14, 2025, in Midlothian, Texas, USA.
Jonathan Johnson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
alphabetGoogle will build its first data center in Minnesota, bringing significant amounts of new renewable energy to the state under contract with utility companies excelthe companies announced on Tuesday.
The data center will be located on a 480-acre site on Pine Island, a town of about 4,000 people about 110 miles southeast of Minneapolis. Google has not previously disclosed its role in the project. The facility will be used for artificial intelligence applications as well as Google’s broader cloud business.
A proposed data center on Pine Island faces opposition from local residents but is supported by the City Council. Construction has not yet begun. Data centers increasingly face political headwinds in communities across the U.S. as some blame data centers for soaring electricity prices in some areas and worry about their environmental impact. Data centers consume large amounts of water for cooling.
Google declined to disclose how much electricity its data centers consume. The technology company said it would pay for the power grid infrastructure needed for the project. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission still needs to review the agreement between Google and Xcel.
“What Google is doing is making sure that when we participate, there’s no additional cost to other ratepayers,” Amanda Peterson-Colio, Google’s head of data centers and energy, said in an interview with CNBC. “We pay 100% of our energy and electricity costs and ensure that new additional capacity is put into the grid to meet our needs.”
Bria Shea, Excel’s president for Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, said the Pine Island data center requires additional transmission infrastructure. Corio said that even if the data center doesn’t materialize for some reason, Google will still pay for any new communications charges associated with the project.
Under the agreement with Xcel, Google will bring 1,400 megawatts of wind power, 200 megawatts of solar power, and 300 megawatts of battery storage to the grid. Renewable projects will be owned by power companies. These are expected to be operational in 2028 and 2029, Mr. Xia said.
Google will also pay a premium for renewable electricity under a rate structure designed to accelerate the adoption of clean energy in Minnesota while protecting consumers from infrastructure costs, the company said.
Town residents formed a group called “Stop Pine Island Data Center.” The Minnesota Environmental Advocacy Center filed a lawsuit in October challenging the project’s environmental review.
The Pine Island City Council approved two preliminary development plans for the data center in December, according to local broadcaster KTTC. Financial incentives, including $36 million in tax breaks, were also approved in February, the newspaper said.
City Administrator Elizabeth Howard said Pine Island will collect more than $130 million in tax revenue from the project, according to KTTC.
While Minnesota has not traditionally been a major data center market, major technology companies are increasingly eyeing the state. Currently, there are 74 data centers in Minnesota. According to Data Center Map, there are 570 such facilities in Virginia, the world’s largest market.
Correction: This article has been updated to correct the name of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.
