Ørsted, an energy provider, has declared that it has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Google, which is the first between the two companies in the United States and the second worldwide after an offshore wind agreement in Germany last year.
The agreement is for 15 years and involves the purchase of 150 MW of renewable energy from the Helena Wind Farm in Texas. The wind farm is part of Ørsted’s Helena Energy Center, which has a capacity of 518 MW and is made up of 66 turbines spread over 15,000 acres. This arrangement will provide enough energy to power approximately 90,000 homes.
The new deal is expected to contribute to Google’s efforts to achieve its target of using 24/7 carbon-free energy (CFE) to power its data centres, cloud regions, and offices by 2030. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, set this goal in 2020 and plans to run its entire business on carbon-free energy by the same year. Using 24/7 CFE, Google aims to match its electricity demand with a carbon-free energy supply every hour in all regions where the company operates.
In March 2023, Google announced a partnership with LevelTen Energy, a renewable transaction infrastructure provider, to make requesting proposals for PPAs faster and more efficient, reducing the time it takes to negotiate and execute deals by roughly 80%.