What do a
Swedish wind farm developer, a German insurance company and Google’s Finnish
data center have in common? As of today, a lot. We’ve just inked agreements
with O2 and Allianz to supply our Finnish data center with renewable energy for
the next 10 years—our fourth long-term agreement to power our data centers with
renewable energy worldwide, and our first in Europe.
Here’s how
it works: O2, the wind farm developer, has obtained planning approval to build
a new 72MW wind farm at Maevaara, in Övertorneå and Pajala municipality in
northern Sweden, using highly efficient 3MW wind turbines. We’ve committed to
buying the entire output of that wind farm for 10 years so that we can power
our Finnish data center with renewable energy. That agreement has helped O2 to
secure 100% financing for the construction of the wind farm from the investment
arm of German insurance company Allianz, which will assume ownership when the
wind farm becomes operational in early 2015.
This
arrangement is possible thanks to Scandinavia’s integrated electricity market
and grid system, Nord Pool. It enables us to buy the wind farm’s output in
Sweden with Guarantee of Origin certification and consume an equivalent amount
of power at our data center in Finland. We then “retire” the Guarantee of
Origin certificates to show that we’ve actually used the energy.
As a carbon
neutral company, our goal is to use as much renewable energy as possible—and by
doing so, stimulate further production. The Maevaara wind farm not only allows
us to make our already highly energy-efficient Finnish data center even more
sustainable, it also meets our goal of adding new renewable energy generation
capacity to the grid.
Of course,
using renewable energy is good for the environment, but it also makes long term
financial sense. That’s why, in addition to protecting ourselves against future
increases in power prices through long-term purchasing for our operations, we
also invest in new renewable energy projects that will deliver a return for our
money. In recent years we’ve committed more than $1 billion to such projects in
the U.S., Germany and, just last week, South Africa. We’ll continue to look for
similar opportunities around the globe.
Posted by
Francois Sterin, Senior Manager, Global Infrastructure Team
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