Google is going green with its latest purchase. The American multinational technology company just announced that it is buying new offshore wind farms in the Netherlands.
Google Purchases Offshore Wind Energy
Google signed power purchase agreements to support two new wind farms off the coast of the Netherlands, marking the most significant deal the company has ever made to buy offshore wind energy for its data centers in Europe.
The move is a component of Google's ambition to match, on a 24/7 basis, all of the electricity used in its data centers with sustainable energy generation by 2030. To do that, the business must assist in boosting the amount of renewable energy that pulses through the electricity networks in the areas where it operates, particularly offshore wind. Today, it revealed "the next step" of that strategy for Europe, stating that the grid will get more than 700 megawatts of additional sustainable energy capacity.
Google runs two of its 24 data centers in the Netherlands, where two new offshore wind farms will provide a large portion of the additional capacity. The CrossWind and Ecowende consortia are joint ventures between Shell and Eneco, the energy corporations, and they have power purchase agreements with them.
The projects being developed by the firms are the Hollandse Kust Noord (HKN) Wind Farm Zone Site V and the Hollandse Kust West (HKW) Site VI, which, when combined, are anticipated to provide around 6% of the Netherlands' yearly electricity demand. HKW VI is expected to begin operations in 2026, whereas HKN began producing power last year.
In addition to its prior power purchase agreements, Google claims that its data centers in the Netherlands will achieve 90 percent clean energy this year.
Minor agreements to buy sustainable energy from onshore wind and solar farms in Belgium, Poland, and Italy were also announced by Google.
Remember that Google intends to offset its electricity consumption with purchases of carbon-free energy. It's not as though the data centers will only use renewable energy, accounting for about 40% of the electricity produced in the Netherlands.
Given that growing prices have prompted developers to abandon projects in Europe and the US, where Google has the most data centers, the offshore wind business, in particular, may use the assistance.
Microsoft Is Going Green, Too
Google and other IT giants, including Microsoft, have been committed to hourly, locally sourced carbon-free energy purchases. They are committed to paying for renewable energy generated nearby while their systems run instead of balancing their annual electricity usage with renewable energy purchases. This forces the local power infrastructure to enhance its capability for continuously producing and storing clean energy.
In May 2023, Microsoft closed a deal with Helion Energy for the latter to provide the former with clean energy by 2028. Helion Energy will enable Microsoft to connect the first commercial fusion generator in the world to a power grid in Washington. The goal is to produce at least 50 megawatts of power, more than the 42MW the US' first two offshore wind farms can have.
Additionally, Microsoft backed a major project to capture carbon dioxide emissions from a power plant that burns wood. It agreed to buy credits for 2.76 million metric tons of carbon dioxide absorbed over 11 years at Ørsted's Asnaes Power Station.
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