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Google has made it a priority to reduce its carbon footprint and power its data centres with renewable energy. Google has been on a PPA signing frenzy with renewable energy providers in order to make these aspirations a reality. In recent news, the American company stated that it has signed two PPAs in Belgium and the Netherlands to get closer to becoming carbon-free by 2030.
Google has agreed to purchase 23.8MW of renewable energy from Luminus in Belgium. Luminus, one of Belgium’s leading energy suppliers, will be responsible for supplying four new-to-the-grid onshore wind projects in turn. As a result of this agreement, Google promises that its data centres and offices in the nation will be 80% carbon-free by 2024 (on an hourly basis).
Google’s data centres in the Netherlands will be 20% carbon-free by 2024, thanks to a PPA with Eneco under which it will acquire 153 MW of renewable energy from near-shore, new-to-the-grid wind farms. Eneco now has operations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Google has formed various collaborations in order to accelerate the decarbonization of its operations. It has inked a 150 MW PPA with Danish energy behemoth rated for the procurement of renewable energy generated by Helena Wind Farm for the next 15 years. Prior to that, Google secured an agreement with US solar energy provider Sol Systems to use solar energy to power its sites in North and South Carolina. Google has also inked a power purchase deal with French utility firm Engie for the provision of 100 MW of renewable energy generated by the Moray West offshore wind farm. Scotland is the location of the offshore facility. The deal will benefit Google’s UK operations. SB Energy, a SoftBank company, had struck an arrangement with Google for the provision of around 900 MW of clean power from a solar power plant to the Texas data centre.
