The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved Google’s request to buy and sell electricity.
According to The Hill, the decision could help the Mountain View-based company reduce its high overhead costs by buying and selling clean energy on the open market.
“But the authorization could, conceivably, allow the tech giant to sell energy directly to customers – a market move that Google executives have hinted they are exploring,” explained The Hill’s Tony Romm.
“Ultimately, the decision could help Google on its quest to become a carbon-neutral company, one of the goals it outlined when it first pitched Google Energy. It should also assist the company’s ongoing research efforts in areas like energy information technology.”
Meanwhile, Douglas A. McIntyre of 24/7 Wall St speculated that Google was seeking “direct access” to electricity to run its huge server farms, or perhaps attempting a “foray” into a number of businesses related to its core operations.
“Google may believe that it can become the GE (GE) of the 21st Century with online, wireless, energy, PC software applications, e-commerce, and video entertainment businesses,” opined McIntyre.
“If so, it is likely to find out, as GE has, that the perceived advantages of being a conglomerate, which is to have a number of businesses which keep earnings from relying too heavily on any one of them, are nonexistent.”
