The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) has approved plans filed by state utility AES Indiana to construct a solar + battery project and transmission line set to power a Google data center in Monrovia.

Under the agreement, Google will pay all costs associated with the project. The IURC said that the proposed project was approved as it met the requirements set out under a law passed in 2025 that requires all large load data centers to cover at minimum 80 percent of the costs associated with the generation and transmission infrastructure needed to power it. The project is the first data center to be filed under the new law.

The project comprises two standalone Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), with a capacity of 200MW and 130MW respectively. It also comprises a hybrid solar + battery project with 130MW of solar power paired with a 130MW BESS. The project also includes a 10-mile (16km) 345kV power line connecting the project to an on-site substation near the data center, which includes a planned 1,200MW substation.

AES has said that the project will cost approximately $1.3 billion to construct.

Commissioner Joby Jerrells said AES Indiana had testified that Google would pay for at least 100 percent of the costs under the requirement.

"Not only does this agreement satisfy the statutory requirement, it exceeds it substantially," Jerrells said.

According to local reporting, AES US Utilities CEO Gustavo Garaviglia said that Google will pay $32.3 million for direct connection facilities, while $73.8m in network upgrades will be included in AES's transmission rate base.

The contract between AES and Google will last at least 15 years, and includes several provisions to prevent cost shifting onto regular ratepayers if Google decides either to scale back or drop the project.

News that Google was behind the Monrovia development first emerged last October. Earlier that year, an application for the project was submitted for land located in Morgan Township, east of Monrovia, between Keller Hill Road, North Antioch Road, Indiana 42, and West Union Church Road. It encompasses 18 parcels owned by ten different entities.

Of the five buildings proposed, four seem to be large data centers, and the fifth is a smaller building east of the electrical transmission line.

Google is also developing a campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana, having purchased 900 acres and committed around $2bn to the project in 2024. This was expanded in September 2025.