Intersect Power was a San Francisco-based clean energy developer focused on large-scale solar, battery energy storage, and clean hydrogen projects. Founded in 2016 by Sheldon Kimber, the company built a reputation as one of the most sophisticated independent developers in the U.S. market — known for project scale, financial innovation, and an ambitious push into green hydrogen production at co-located renewable energy sites. Google's acquisition of Intersect Power brought one of the most promising independent clean energy platforms directly under the roof of one of the world's largest corporate clean energy buyers.
At the time of acquisition, Intersect had over 3 gigawatts of operating solar and storage capacity, primarily in California (CAISO) and Texas (ERCOT), with a development pipeline of approximately 25 gigawatts spanning solar, storage, and clean hydrogen. The company had raised over $8 billion in combined equity and project financing, and was widely regarded as a leading candidate for a public market listing before the Google deal was announced.
Intersect's development model emphasized large project scale — targeting utility-scale solar and storage projects in the 200 MW to 1+ GW range — and vertical integration across the development lifecycle: site control, permitting, interconnection, project finance, engineering, and construction management. This integrated approach allowed Intersect to capture value across the full development chain rather than selling projects at early stages to utilities or independent power producers.
The company was particularly active in California, where its projects supported the state's aggressive renewable energy and storage procurement mandates, and in Texas, where merchant solar and storage economics became increasingly attractive as ERCOT market dynamics rewarded dispatchable clean generation. Intersect's ability to co-locate solar and large-scale battery storage in a single project — enabling firm, dispatchable renewable delivery — differentiated it from pure-play solar developers.
One of Intersect Power's most distinctive strategic bets was its early and aggressive push into green hydrogen production. The company developed a concept it called "Stacking"— co-locating electrolyzers at large-scale solar and storage sites to produce green hydrogen using excess renewable electricity, serving both grid storage and hydrogen offtake markets from a single integrated facility.
Intersect's hydrogen projects were positioned to benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act's production tax credit for clean hydrogen (Section 45V), which provides up to $3 per kilogram for the lowest-emission hydrogen production. The company was developing several multi-gigawatt hydrogen-capable projects in Texas and California, targeting industrial and fuel cell customers. The hydrogen pipeline represented a significant portion of Intersect's long-term growth thesis at the time of the Google acquisition.
Google's acquisition of Intersect Power was a landmark transaction — one of the largest acquisitions of a renewable energy developer by a technology company and a signal of how seriously hyperscalers are treating energy supply security as a strategic priority. Google has been a major corporate PPA buyer for over a decade and has committed to operating on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030. Owning a large-scale clean energy developer directly — rather than procuring through PPAs — gives Google far greater control over the timing, location, and configuration of new clean energy capacity.
The deal reflected a broader trend of technology companies moving from passive clean energy buyers to active infrastructure owners. Rather than relying on the merchant market to deliver sufficient clean energy where and when data centers need it, Google is building a vertically integrated clean energy supply chain. Intersect's pipeline in CAISO and ERCOT — the two grids hosting the largest concentrations of U.S. data center capacity — made it a strategically compelling acquisition target.
The Intersect acquisition accelerated a debate in the clean energy industry about the role of hyperscalers as direct owners of generation infrastructure. Microsoft's investment in nuclear (Constellation's Three Mile Island restart), Amazon's acquisition of Talen Energy's nuclear data center campus, and Google's Intersect deal collectively suggest that the largest technology companies no longer trust the merchant market to deliver clean energy at the pace, location, and reliability their data center growth requires.
For independent clean energy developers, the transaction raised both opportunity and risk: Google's willingness to pay acquisition prices for a development-stage company validated the value of large-scale project pipelines, but the entry of well-capitalized technology companies as direct developers also introduces formidable new competition for land, interconnection queue positions, and engineering talent.
This profile was compiled from publicly available information including:
Intersect Power corporate website — Company overview, project portfolio, and press releases.
Google and Alphabet public statements regarding the acquisition and clean energy strategy.
Industry reporting on corporate clean energy procurement and hyperscaler infrastructure investment strategies.
This profile is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or a solicitation to buy or sell any security.