- Google and French renewables energy company Engie sign a power purchase agreement for a power station located in Scotland, United Kingdom.
- The energy from the power from the wind farm will be used in Google’s offices as well as its UK Cloud region. The power farm will generate energy in 2025.
- Google also obtained a power purchase agreement for its data centers located in Ireland. Microsoft estimates that by 2025, its data centers in Ireland will be supported 100% by renewable energy.
The French renewable energy corporation, Engie has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Google UK covering 100 MW of the capacity from the 882 MW Moray West offshore wind farm off Scotland.
The Google UK region will operate 90% CFE
The agreement will make the United Kingdom one of six Google Cloud regions, including Finland, Iowa, Montreal, Spain, and Toronto, operating at or near 90% carbon-free energy, on an hourly basis, when the PPA goes live in 2025.
Engie says it will provide Google with more than 5 TWh of green power from the Moray West project, a nearly 900 MW offshore wind farm expected to begin generating power in 2025. The Moray West project is one of the portfolios being developed by Ocean Winds. It is a 50/50 joint venture owned by EDPR Renewables and Engie, committed to offshore wind. The project will deliver 882 MW of renewable green energy.
When the new arrangement comes into force, it will make the United Kingdom one of six Google Cloud regions, including Finland, Iowa, Montreal, Spain, and Toronto, operating at or near 90% carbon-free energy, on an hourly basis, when the PPA goes live in 2025. Matt Brittin, President of Google EMEA said;
« This new investment in UK renewable energy brings us one step closer to reaching our goal of operating entirely on carbon-free energy by 2030, and means that, in the UK, we’ll be running on at or near 90% carbon-free energy in 2025. »
The energy from the Moray West wind farm will more likely be consumed in the company’s UK offices as well as in the Google Cloud UK region. Google Cloud UK’s servers are used by many British customers of the company’s public cloud platform to manage workloads and store data. Google’s UK headquarters in King’s Cross is in the works and is due to open in 2024.
Meanwhile, Microsoft disclosed its PPAs in Ireland as well. The power purchase agreement covers more than 900 MW of new renewable electricity capacity to supply power for its data centers located in the country. The giant tech company agrees to obtain renewable energy from a project that is not online yet for a set period at a set price, usually between a decade and 20 years.