Google has purchased a 1,600-megawatt package of deals that will increase the technology giant’s worldwide portfolio of wind and solar agreements by more than 40 percent, the equivalent capacity of 1 million solar rooftops.
“Today we’re taking another big step by making the biggest corporate purchase of renewable energy in history,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, in a Sept. 19 statement.
The investment includes 18 new energy deals spanning the globe, which would bring Google’s total capacity to 5,500 megawatts. Google plans to purchase 720 megawatts of solar farms in the United States and 793 megawatts of renewable energy capacity in Europe. It also will add 125 megawatts of renewable energy capacity to the grid that supplies its data center in Chile.
Once all of the projects come online, the carbon-free energy portfolio will produce more electricity than cities such as Washington, D.C., or entire countries such as Lithuania or Uruguay use in a year.
“To ensure maximum impact, all of our latest deals meet the rigorous ‘additionality’ criteria we set out long ago for our energy purchases,” said Pichai. “This means we’re not buying power from existing wind and solar farms but instead are making long-term purchase commitments that result in the development of new projects. Bringing incremental renewable energy to the grids where we consume energy is a critical component of pursuing 24x7 carbon-free energy for all of our operations.”
The deal will also spur construction of more than $2 billion in new energy infrastructure, including millions of solar panels and hundreds of wind turbines spanning three continents. Google said its renewable energy fleet now stands at 52 projects.
In addition, the company issued two grants of $500,000 to Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA) in the United States and a €500,000 ($552,000) grant to RE-Source in Europe in an effort to “break down the barriers for those who want to purchase renewable energy.”
The tech giant has taken other notable measures to expand its infrastructure this year. In previous months, Google announced a $13 billion investment plan to expand the company’s data centers across the United States.
