Google to buy 100.8 megawatts of Oklahoma wind energy: "
by Todd Woody.
It’s getting a bit hard to keep up with all of Google’s green investments these days—$168 million put into a big solar power plant
project one week; $100 million for the world’s largest wind farm the next.
But this week’s big money move—the third so far this
month—is different. It also involves wind but is a power purchase agreement
(known as a PPA in the utility trade) rather than a direct investment in a
specific project.
The deal with wind developer NextEra Energy Resources was
struck by Google Energy, a subsidiary of the search giant that has been licensed
by the federal government to buy electricity on the wholesale market.
Essentially, Google Energy acts as a quasi-utility, signing
long-term contracts for electricity. In this case, it has committed to a
20-year contract to buy the electricity generated by a 100.8-megawatt wind farm
called Minco II that NextEra will build in Oklahoma, where a new Google data
center is set to go online later this year.
“This 100.8 megawatt facility will be built as a direct
result of our financial commitment and should be operational in late 2011,” Gary
Demasi, of Google’s global infrastructure team, wrote on the company’s official
blog.
“We’ve been exploring ways, such as this PPA, to reduce
emissions further by increasing the amount of renewable energy we use to power
our operations,” he added. “We purchase high-quality
carbon offsets for any remaining emissions.”
The value of the power purchase agreement was not disclosed—typically such deals are kept in a black box for competitive reasons. The
advantage of such a deal over a direct investment is that it assures bankers
and other financiers that a project has a guaranteed market for the
electricity. And Google gets to claim that clean energy even though it goes
into the grid rather than directly to its facility.
The Oklahoma wind farm will be built this year, according to
NextEra, the United States’ largest wind developer.
The deal is Google’s second power purchase agreement with
NextEra. Last year, it signed a 20-year contract to buy electricity generated
by a 114-megawatt Iowa wind farm.
Related Links:
Dirty clouds: Greenpeace ranks tech giants on their data centers’ coal dependency
Chart of the day: the U.S. energy mix in 2035
Bloomberg wants to cover New York City’s landfills with solar panels
"
by Todd Woody.
It’s getting a bit hard to keep up with all of Google’s green investments these days—$168 million put into a big solar power plant
project one week; $100 million for the world’s largest wind farm the next.
But this week’s big money move—the third so far this
month—is different. It also involves wind but is a power purchase agreement
(known as a PPA in the utility trade) rather than a direct investment in a
specific project.
The deal with wind developer NextEra Energy Resources was
struck by Google Energy, a subsidiary of the search giant that has been licensed
by the federal government to buy electricity on the wholesale market.
Essentially, Google Energy acts as a quasi-utility, signing
long-term contracts for electricity. In this case, it has committed to a
20-year contract to buy the electricity generated by a 100.8-megawatt wind farm
called Minco II that NextEra will build in Oklahoma, where a new Google data
center is set to go online later this year.
“This 100.8 megawatt facility will be built as a direct
result of our financial commitment and should be operational in late 2011,” Gary
Demasi, of Google’s global infrastructure team, wrote on the company’s official
blog.
“We’ve been exploring ways, such as this PPA, to reduce
emissions further by increasing the amount of renewable energy we use to power
our operations,” he added. “We purchase high-quality
carbon offsets for any remaining emissions.”
The value of the power purchase agreement was not disclosed—typically such deals are kept in a black box for competitive reasons. The
advantage of such a deal over a direct investment is that it assures bankers
and other financiers that a project has a guaranteed market for the
electricity. And Google gets to claim that clean energy even though it goes
into the grid rather than directly to its facility.
The Oklahoma wind farm will be built this year, according to
NextEra, the United States’ largest wind developer.
The deal is Google’s second power purchase agreement with
NextEra. Last year, it signed a 20-year contract to buy electricity generated
by a 114-megawatt Iowa wind farm.
Related Links:
Dirty clouds: Greenpeace ranks tech giants on their data centers’ coal dependency
Chart of the day: the U.S. energy mix in 2035
Bloomberg wants to cover New York City’s landfills with solar panels
"
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