The pace indicates that prime renewable capacity in SPP is being absorbed by well-resourced counterparties before it reaches open solicitation
Decision Focus
On August 3, 2026, RWE and Google signed a 15-year power purchase agreement for the 155 MWac Crooked Creek Solar project in McCurtain County, Oklahoma. The project will deliver its entire output within the Southwest Power Pool, a transmission operator spanning 14 states across the central and western United States. Construction begins this year, with commissioning targeted for 2028. The operational signal: the SPP footprint is transitioning from a secondary data center power market to an active hyperscaler procurement target, and uncontracted renewable capacity there is being locked under long-term agreements at pace.
90-Second Brief
Today, rWE has now executed two separate hyperscaler PPAs within roughly two months, this Google deal following a comparable agreement with Meta in Texas in June 2026. Crooked Creek is RWE’s first solar project in Oklahoma, added to an existing state presence that includes the 148 MW Boiling Springs wind farm and six projects totaling 1.6 GW in development. North American corporate PPA volume reached a record 29.5 GW in the United States in 2025, with North America the only region globally showing growth according to BloombergNEF. The pace indicates that prime renewable capacity in SPP is being absorbed by well-resourced counterparties before it reaches open solicitation.
What Is Really Happening?
The underlying driver is a structural demand shift moving faster than most procurement timelines anticipated. The EIA projects that US electricity consumption will hit a new peak in 2026, with the commercial sector — led by data centers — surpassing residential consumption for the first time. Data center servers accounted for roughly 7 percent of total US commercial sector electricity in 2025; under EIA projections, that share could reach 22 to 33 percent by 2050 across scenario assumptions.
That demand trajectory is compressing the window for securing clean generation under favorable terms. The Crooked Creek deal illustrates a specific mechanism: a hyperscaler absorbing the entire output of a new-build project before it breaks ground, locking in terms for 15 years while the project moves through construction. The developer captures an anchor offtaker; the hyperscaler secures additionality and regional delivery within a specific ISO territory. For anyone watching SPP, this is no longer a proof-of-concept market — two separate tier-one hyperscalers have signed long-term offtake agreements within the same SPP footprint within months of each other.
RWE’s US expansion trajectory adds further context. The company holds approximately 13 GW of generation across 27 states and has committed EUR 17 billion of a planned EUR 35 billion total investment to the United States by 2031, targeting 22 GW of US installed capacity. That capital commitment, combined with a stated focus on flexible gas peaker plants alongside renewables, positions RWE as a counterparty capable of bundling firm and variable capacity — a structure that increasingly appeals to operators managing 24/7 carbon-free energy commitments rather than annual REC matching.
Why It Matters for Global Heads of Data Center Energy
The SPP territory’s 14-state footprint has historically been more accessible for power procurement than constrained markets like Northern Virginia or ERCOT. With Google and Meta now anchoring generation in this territory under 15-year agreements, the pipeline of uncontracted projects narrows. For operators still building SPP procurement strategy, the effective window to compete for new-build capacity at pre-construction pricing is compressing in real time.
The 2028 commissioning date carries a secondary implication: any capacity contracted today on comparable projects will not flow until the latter part of this decade. Operators who have deferred SPP PPA discussions — expecting the market to remain open — are now competing against counterparties who have already executed. Solar lead times from site selection to commercial operation in this region run roughly 24 to 36 months, meaning decisions made in the next six to twelve months will determine availability at the start of the next planning cycle.
There is also a counterparty dynamics issue worth tracking. RWE has signed with two of the largest offtakers in the market within a short window, signaling bilateral relationships rather than open competition. Developers with demonstrated execution track records in SPP and established hyperscaler relationships will likely continue moving toward private negotiation before projects surface publicly.
Forward View
If US corporate PPA volume holds near or above the 2025 record, pressure on development pipelines in secondary markets including SPP will intensify. Watch whether other European utilities following RWE’s US capital commitment pattern begin executing comparable hyperscaler deals in the same territory. A second wave of pre-construction offtake agreements in the SPP footprint would confirm that competition for uncontracted capacity there has reached the structural tightness already visible in PJM and CAISO.
RWE’s stated intention to expand into flexible gas peaker capacity in the United States is a separate front worth monitoring. A developer able to offer firm dispatchable capacity and renewable generation within the same ISO territory becomes a materially more attractive counterparty for operators trying to close the gap between hourly clean energy matching and available intermittent supply — without taking on generation ownership directly.
What Is Still Uncertain
The source article does not disclose the PPA strike price or the specific Google facilities that Crooked Creek will serve within SPP. Without pricing, it is not possible to benchmark the deal against current market rates or assess whether the economics favor early movers relative to operators who wait for additional project options. It is also not confirmed whether RWE’s six additional Oklahoma projects — 1.6 GW combined — have identified offtakers, which would materially affect how much uncontracted capacity remains available in the state.
The EIA’s data center electricity share projections span a wide range. The directional trend is consistent with current demand signals, but the scenario spread reflects genuine uncertainty about AI workload growth rates and efficiency gains that could shift planning assumptions across a 15-year contract horizon.
One Question for Your Team
Which projects in the SPP development pipeline remain available for pre-construction offtake today, and what is the realistic timeline before the next tranche of capacity is contracted by hyperscalers ahead of your current negotiating position?
Sources
- Renewable-energy-industry — AI Boom Drives Solar Power Demand: RWE Signs 155 MW Solar PPA with Google in Oklahoma (Link)
