US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm joins SB Energy and other officials to celebrate a historic milestone for American-made solar. Credit: SB Energy / PRNewswire.

SB Energy Global, a utility-scale solar, energy storage and technology platform backed by SoftBank Group, has announced the commencement of commercial operations for its Orion Solar Belt projects in the US.

The Orion I, Orion II and Orion III solar projects, collectively known as the Orion Solar Belt, are now contributing to the Texas power grid.

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Located in Milam County, Texas, the Orion Solar Belt has 875MWdc [megawatts of direct current] of energy capacity.

It is powered by more than 1.3 million American-made solar modules, utilising domestic steel and other major components manufactured within the US. The initiative underlines SB Energy’s commitment to supporting local industries and sustainable energy practices.

The solar projects are instrumental in providing electricity to power Google‘s data centers situated in Ellis County, as well as its Dallas cloud region.

The collaboration between SB Energy and Google is built upon a power purchase agreement (PPA) – Google’s largest solar energy investment globally.

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The PPA is a key part of Google’s ambitious goal to run on carbon-free energy 24/7 by 2030.

The tech giant’s investment in renewable energy is part of a strategy that includes a more than $1bn commitment to expanding its cloud and data centre infrastructure in Texas.

This expansion will support increasing demand for Google Cloud, AI and other digital services.

The Orion Solar Belt is expected to make a substantial economic impact in Milam County, with contributions estimated at $100m to local services throughout the lifetime of the projects.

SB Energy co-CEO Rich Hossfeld stated: “When it comes to actualising American jobs and providing power to the world’s largest energy users, SB Energy is committed to creating the roadmap.

“We are thankful for the support from Secretary Jennifer Granholm and the many federal, local and statewide leaders, as well as Google. We hope the Orion Solar Belt serves as a catalyst for growing investments in a robust American-made supply chain for solar.”