Michael Terrell, Google’s global head of advanced energy, has left the company after 19 years, announcing the move in a LinkedIn post. Terrell’s roles spanned senior director of clean energy and carbon reduction, director of energy, and head of energy market strategy. Before joining Google he was an associate attorney at Van Ness Feldman specializing in energy and climate law.
Terrell’s tenure covers the period when Google’s electricity demand exploded: the company’s data centers used 30.8 million megawatt-hours in 2024, roughly double the figure four years earlier, driven by AI compute. He led the pivot toward 24/7 carbon-free energy procurement and the frontier deals that made Google the industry’s most aggressive buyer of clean firm power, including the company’s first agreement with a long-duration storage company, Energy Dome, its first small modular reactor deal with Kairos Power, its first contract with an enhanced geothermal firm, and a 200-megawatt fusion power purchase agreement with Commonwealth Fusion Systems. He also co-founded industry coalitions including the Clean Energy Buyers Association. Lucia Tian, who has been a director in the advanced energy technologies division since May, now heads it; DCD reports Google has not yet said whether it will hire a direct replacement.