Google Gets OK to Buy, Sell Electricity

Google has been cleared by federal regulators to become a power broker, buying and selling electricity like a utility, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has signed off on an order granting subsidiary Google Energy the rights "for the sale of energy, capacity, and ancillary services at market-based rates," though Google doesn't own any facilities to do so, according to CNET News.

The company has said it sought the authorization as a way to better control the costs of powering its massive data centers by buying wind- and solar-generated power directly.