Google signed an agreement to acquire 235 megawatt (MW) of energy from two wind farms in Norway and Sweden. Last year, the search engine giant announced that it was purchasing 842 MW of renewal energy as part of its initiative of running 100% its operations on clean energy.
In a statement, Marc Oman, EU Energy lead at Google Global Infrastructure, said that company already has seven purchase agreements in Europe with a total of 500 MW of energy. Globally, the search engine giant has 18 agreements, thereby purchased almost 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of energy.
Google latest purchase agreements
A related report from Bloomberg indicated that Siemens AG supplied 50 direct-drive SWT turbines for the wind farm near Stavanger in Norway. Zephyr A/S and Norsk Vind Energi A/S are the project developers of the wind farm.
The project developers will the start the construction of the 160-megawatt Rogaland wind farm this month and it is expected to be completed next year. It will provide clean energy to Google’s data centers in Europe for 12 years.
According to Siemens, Google will receive the so-called “Guarantee of Origin” certificate for the energy produced in Norway. The certificate will allow the search engine giant to consume an equivalent amount of power across the integrated market in Europe.
In Sweden Oman said, Google is purchasing power from a 22-turbine project near Mariestad and Töreboda. The wind farm is expected to be completed in early 2018.
“We’ve signed long-term contracts that give us price certainty and help wind farm developers secure construction financing, in these cases from companies like Blackrock and Ardian,” said Oman.
Google’s primary goal
Furthermore, Oman said one of the primary goals of Google is to enable the addition of new renewable energy generation capacity to the grid instead of getting power from existing facilities.
“Thanks to Europe’s increasingly integrated energy market, we’re able to buy wind energy in Norway and Sweden, and consume it elsewhere in Europe,” he said.
Google signed its first major power purchase agreement for 114 MW of Iowa wind in 2010. The search engine giant played a role in stimulating the market for corporate renewable energy purchasing. It is doing its hare in the effort to reduce climate change.
 of energy from two wind farms in Norway and Sweden. Last year, the search engine giant announced that it was purchasing 842 MW of renewal energy as part of its initiative of running 100% its operations on clean energy.){kind=link}