Google buys 781MW of wind, solar power in three nations
The Alphabet Inc. unit completed five deals in the US, Chile and Sweden, and now has contracts for 2GW of renewable energy worldwide
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Google, the world’s biggest corporate buyer of renewable energy, is expanding its clean power portfolio with deals for 781 megawatts (MW) of solar and wind power.
The Alphabet Inc. unit completed five deals to buy the output from power plants in the US, Chile and Sweden, and now has contracts for 2 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy worldwide, according to a statement on Thursday. The power-purchase agreements run from 10 to 20 years.
“It’s the largest, most diverse purchase of renewable energy by a non-utility," Michael Terrell, Google’s principal of energy and global infrastructure, said in an interview.
The announcement coincides with the climate talks in Paris, where envoys from almost 200 nations are seeking to complete a global deal to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
“We wanted to send the message that corporate America is really committed to driving the transition to a clean-energy economy," Terrell said.
Google will buy 200MW of power from Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc.’s Bluestem wind project, and 200MW from Electricite de France SA’s Great Western wind project, both of which will be built in Oklahoma. The company will also buy 225MW of US wind power from independent power producer Invenergy LLC.
In Chile, Google will use 80MW of solar power from Acciona Energia SA’s El Romero farm, which will be built in the Atacama region. And in Sweden, the company agreed to buy 76MW of wind power from Eolus Vind AB’s Jenasen wind project, which will be built in Vasternorrland County.
Google signed its first large-scale power purchase agreement in 2010, when it agreed to buy power from a wind farm in Iowa. Last week, Google announced that it would buy 61MW from a solar farm in North Carolina—the first customer under a new state programme that lets companies buy renewable energy directly from local utilities.
In July, Google committed to tripling its purchases of renewable energy by 2025. At the time, it had contracts to buy 1.1GW of such power. Bloomberg
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