Michael Terrell exits Google after 19 years as global head of advanced energy

Michael Terrell, Google's global head of advanced energy, departed the company on or around 12 October 2026 after 19 years.^[1] He was one of Google's earliest energy hires and the architect of its most consequential clean-power commitments, including the 24/7 carbon-free energy target that now anchors the company's data-centre strategy.

What Terrell built

Terrell joined Google in 2007 as an energy attorney and rose through a succession of roles - director of operations and head of energy market strategy, director of energy, and senior director of clean energy and carbon reduction - before being appointed global head of advanced energy in April 2025.^[1]

His tenure produced a string of firsts for corporate energy procurement:

• Google signed the world's first corporate agreement for enhanced geothermal power, with Fervo Energy, which began delivering commercial output in November 2023.
• The company struck a deal with Kairos Power for up to 500 MW of advanced nuclear capacity by 2035.
• In May 2025, Google agreed to co-develop 1.8 GW of advanced nuclear capacity across three US sites with Elementl Power.
• In October 2025, Google signed a 25-year agreement with NextEra Energy to restart Iowa's 615 MW Duane Arnold Energy Center.
• In February 2026, Google signed a power purchase agreement with Ormat Technologies for up to 150 MW of geothermal power to supply its Nevada data centres.

Writing on LinkedIn, Terrell described the 24/7 carbon-free energy goal as a redefinition of corporate leadership, and credited load-shifting, demand response, and virtual power plants as part of the blueprint his team developed.^[1]

The CEBA legacy

Beyond Google's own portfolio, Terrell helped found the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA) in 2018 and served as its board chair from the organisation's formal inception in 2019.^[1] Under his chairmanship, CEBA grew to more than 400 member organisations, becoming the primary trade body through which large corporate buyers coordinate clean-energy procurement and policy advocacy.^[1] He also helped launch the Advanced Energy Management Alliance (AEMA), a parallel body focused on demand-side grid management.^[1]

Terrell stepped down as CEBA chair earlier in 2026, with Akamai Technologies' director of corporate sustainability, Mike Mattera, succeeding him.

Who leads now

Lucia Tian, who has held the director role within Google's advanced energy technologies division since May 2026, now heads the unit.^[1] Data Center Dynamics reported that it has asked Google whether the company intends to hire a direct replacement for Terrell at the global head level; no response had been received at the time of publication.^[1]

The transition lands at a moment of significant capital commitment. Google signed a 20-year, 890 MW nuclear power purchase agreement with Constellation Energy on 6 October 2026, with Constellation committing more than $4.3 billion to upgrade 11 reactors across Illinois, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Amanda Peterson Corio, identified in that deal as Google's global head of energy and power, was the named spokesperson - suggesting the advanced energy and energy-and-power functions may already operate as distinct remits within the company.

Whether Google fills the advanced energy head role externally or absorbs it into existing leadership will signal how it intends to manage the next phase of its clean-firm power build-out, with the 2030 24/7 carbon-free deadline now less than four years away.