Sooner Solar: LRE Advances 725-MW Oklahoma Expansion to Power Google, Regional Grid
Leeward Renewable Energy (LRE) is celebrating the expansion of 725 MW of Oklahoma projects across its solar portfolio, a majority of which are under a 2025 Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with tech giant Google.
During a ribbon-cutting event on Tuesday, LRE revealed that the project's total investment is approximately $1.5 billion, comprising one of the largest solar portfolios in the state.
The Oklahoma portfolio’s solar generation capacity includes: Salt Branch Solar 1 & 2 (145 MW), Huckleberry Solar (125 MW), Mayes Solar (102 MW), Twelvemile Solar 1 & 2 (153 MW combined) and Twelvemile 3 Solar Project (200 MW), which is under construction.
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“These projects reflect years of collaboration and a shared commitment to delivering the reliable, cost-effective, domestically produced energy needed to support businesses, communities and the digital infrastructure that is driving America's economic growth,” said LRE CEO Jason Allen in a statement.
Google operates an established data center at its Pryor, Oklahoma campus in Mayes County, where all of these solar sites, minus Twelvemile Solar (roughly 170 miles apart), are clustered less than one mile away.
In Jan. 2025, Google stated the projects were strategically located to support its data center operations with carbon-free energy around the clock by 2030. The PPAs, co-developed by Google and LevelTen Energy, aim to make the sourcing and execution of clean energy PPAs more efficient, contributing to Google’s ambitious 2030 goal to run on 24/7 carbon-free energy on every grid where it operates.
“Google is committed to growing in a way that supports our neighbors and strengthens the electricity grid,” said JT Tolliver, Google data center operations lead for Oklahoma and Missouri. “This new agreement with LRE will help bring more power generation online in Oklahoma, contributing to a more robust, affordable, and reliable energy system for all.”
According to a release, the electricity will be routed through firm transmission service agreements with regional utilities—including the Grand River Dam Authority, American Electric Power and Oklahoma Gas & Electric—to bolster grid reliability and meet growing power demand across Oklahoma.
LRE views this large-scale infrastructure as a way not only to support operational capacity needs of hyperscalers like Google but also to possibly create long-term value for Oklahoma communities by taking responsibility for new capacity costs as electricity demand increases.
An example of this is the growing cohort of tech giants—including Google, Microsoft and Oracle—forging unique utility and behind-the-meter energy partnerships under the White House's Ratepayer Protection Pledge. Under this framework, data and AI companies negotiate separate rate structures with state governments, to fully fund any new power generation relating to infrastructure requirements needed to bring their computing services online.
Collectively, the Oklahoma projects have supported more than 2,000 construction jobs and are projected to generate approximately $148.8 million in state and local tax revenue over their operating lives, LRE says.
