Google’s PPA mission: 100% clean power, 100% of the time
The recent publication of a landmark UN report offered a stark warning: the world has 12 years to get greenhouse emissions under control or we will face catastrophic climate change. Corporates have a major role to play here: energy-intensive industries have an outsized carbon footprint and need to get their houses in order in terms of energy-consumption and emissions.
One clear line of action here is the corporate sourcing of renewable energy: by powering their operations with renewables, corporates will not only facilitate the greening of the global grid – they will effectively lead the charge for the decarbonisation of the global economy.
And Google has been one of the world leaders in this revolution. As a member of RE100, Google is committed to sourcing 100% of its energy from renewable sources. Gary Demasi, Senior Director, Data Centre Energy and Location Strategy, has said: “We’re a data-driven company. The science of climate change tells us that building a carbon-free electrical grid is an urgent global priority.”
And corporate renewable PPAs have been key to enabling this. Google has now entered into 14 PPAs in Europe, for almost 900 MW of wind and solar capacity.
The technology company already announced last year it had achieved its 100% renewable energy purchasing goal—which relies on buying surplus renewable energy when it’s sunny and windy, to offset the lack of renewable energy supply in other situations—is an important first step toward achieving a fully carbon-free future.
Google has commented that renewable energy purchases are not only in line with its commitment to sustainable growth, but also reduce the tech giant’s exposure to volatile fuel prices. By signing corporate renewable PPAs which are long-term, fixed-price contracts, Google effectively enters a win-win arrangement with renewable energy suppliers.
This this represents a head start toward achieving a much greater, longer-term challenge: sourcing carbon-free energy for Google’s operations on a 24-7 basis. As Google continues to grow, it needs to buy additional renewable energy to maintain this level.
Google’s Marc Oman says: “As the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy, we’ll continue to do our part to scale renewables in Europe through additional transactions and by working with groups like RE-Source." This is why Google will be at RE-Source 2018, Europe’s leading corporate renewable energy sourcing event. "Building a carbon-free grid is an urgent global priority,” Oman says, “and we’re excited to be playing a role in accelerating Europe’s clean energy transition.”
