To power cloud data centres (DCs) with renewable energy (RE) Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft negotiated innovative long-term contracts that opened up regional vertically integrated electricity utilities to allow new roles for large-scale suppliers and buyers of electricity. This transformation is explained using Williamson’s framework of institutional change linking the four interdependent institutional levels of embedded values, regulatory environment, (interfirm) governance and resource allocation. This framework is extended geographically by incorporating the regional and national interactions necessary for locating and spatially diffusing RE-driven DCs across the USA based on new power purchases and green tariff contractural agreements.