Google makes “biggest-ever” purchase of renewable energy as it buys wind farms and solar projects
Running a company as big as Google is an energy-intensive business. But now the search giant says it's come a step closer to powering itself entirely with renewables – with the "largest and most diverse purchase of renewable energy ever made by a non-utility company".
The search giant said the purchase, of wind farms and solar energy projects across three countries, will add an additional 842 megawatts of renewable energy to power its data centres.
The company said it now had two gigawatts of renewable energy projects, with a goal of tripling its renewables purchases to power 100 per cent of its operations with clean energy by 2025. It reckons that's equivalent to taking 1 million cars off the road.
(Source: Google)
The company said taking out long-term contracts with renewables projects provides them with the "financial certainty and scale necessary to build these wind and solar facilities – thus bringing new renewable energy onto the grid in these regions".
"For our part, these contracts not only help minimise the environmental impact of our services – they also make good business sense by ensuring good prices," it added.
The news came on the fourth day of the COP21 climate talks in Paris, at which it's hoped world leaders will reach a decision on limiting global warning to two degrees celsius over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
Yesterday French diplomat Laurent Fabius chivvied negotiators on, saying there was "still a lot of work to do" before 11 December, when the conference will draw to a close.