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Google has a long and storied history of insisting it has no plans whatsoever to do something which it ultimately ends up doing. So the company\u2019s claims this week that it doesn\u2019t plan to enter the speculative energy trading business, even though it has established a new Google Energy LLC subsidiary<\/a> that would allow it to do just that, is certainly an eyebrow raiser.<\/p>\nYou see, Google (GOOG), through Google Energy LLC, applied last month to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval to buy and sell power much like utilities do<\/a>. “In addition to engaging in sales of electricity that are unregulated by the commission, applicant proposes to act as a power marketer, purchasing electricity and reselling it to wholesale customers,” Google\u2019s Google Energy LLC subsidiary said in its application.<\/p>\n But according to Google spokesperson Niki Fenwick, that’s not the company\u2019s real intent. What Google hopes to do through Google Energy is to gain greater access to renewable energy sources which it can use power its increasingly vast operations.<\/p>\n \u201cGoogle is interested in procuring more renewable energy as part of our carbon neutrality commitment, and the ability to buy and sell energy on the wholesale market could give us more flexibility in doing so,\u201d Fenwick told me. \u201cWe made this filing so we can have more flexibility in procuring power for Google’s own operations, including our data centers. The FERC authority would improve our ability to hedge our purchases of energy and incorporate renewables into our energy portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n Really? Even though FERC approval would essentially allow it to become a wholesaler of electricity to other big buyers?<\/p>\n Really.<\/p>\n And this initiative is not in any way related to Google PowerMeter<\/a>, a Web-based service the company rolled out last year that provides consumers with a way to track their energy usage<\/a>? <\/p>\n \u201cThis is not connected with the Google PowerMeter project,\u201d Fenwick insisted. \u201cAnd it does not signal our intent to operate as a retail provider of electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n So we\u2019ll have to take the company at its word then, and assume, for the moment anyway, that \u201cthis does not signal our intent to operate as a retail provider of electricity\u201d is not simply another variation on \u201cwe\u2019re not doing a mobile phone<\/a>\u201d; \u201cWe don\u2019t think it\u2019s a competitor to Microsoft Office<\/a>\u201d; \u201cWe do not intend to offer a person-to-person, stored-value payments system<\/a>\u201c; and, of course, \u201cWe have no plans for an IPO.\u201d<\/p>\n Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n