Google applies for energy-trading licence
08 Jan 2010
After Google search engine, Maps, You Tube, smartphone its now Google Energy, as the Mountain View, California-based company has plans to venture into trading in energy.
It has applied for permission with the US federal authority to buy and sell in bulk power.
On 16 December 2009, the Internet giant formed a new subsidiary Google Energy in Delaware and in the same month applied for permission with the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FRCC) to trade in electricity.
"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," the Google subsidiary said in its application.
But Google said that it has no plans to become an energy trader but would like to achieve its goal set in 2007, to achieve carbon neutrality by procuring renewable energy to offset power usage at its operations.
Google needs vast amounts of energy to run its massive global network of data centres and the millions of servers that power its Internet services such as search, video and email.