By Susanna Twidale and Simon Jessop
LONDON (Reuters) – Technology giant Google has signed its largest ever power purchase agreement (PPA) with offshore wind projects off the coast of the Netherlands as part of efforts to green its power supply and hit climate targets, it said on Thursday.
Renewable power project developers are increasingly tying their electricity output to long-term PPAs to provide revenue security, while corporate buyers are keen to lock in supply and ensure they meet targets for sourcing clean power.
Under its largest offshore wind PPA to date, Google has agreed to take 478 megawatts (MW) of power from two new wind farms developed by Crosswind & Ecowende Consortia, joint ventures between energy companies Shell and Dutch utility Eneco.
It also announced smaller renewable PPAs in Italy, Poland and Belgium but did not disclose any financial details of the deals.
“Our ambition to operate on carbon-free energy around the clock by 2030 requires clean energy solutions in every grid where we operate,” said Matt Brittin, President of Google in EMEA
Many companies with similar goals currently work on an annual basis, matching PPAs or purchases of renewable energy certificates with their yearly electricity use.
Google, however, is seeking to match each hour of electricity used with an hour of clean power production, something proponents of the method say better reflects companies’ actual energy use.
(Reporting By Susanna Twidale and Simon Jessop; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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