Commercial, Industrial, Sourcing Renewables, Wind  -  November 30, 2017

Google signs 3 new PPAs for South Dakota, Iowa wind

Google LLC, on track to reach its goal of using 100% renewable energy by the end of the year, on Nov. 30 announced three new wind power purchase agreements totaling nearly 400 MW.

In the largest of the three, the Alphabet Inc. subsidiary will purchase 200 MW of wind energy generated from EDF Renewable Energy's Glaciers Edge Wind Project in Iowa, according to a news release from EDF. Glaciers Edge, located in Cherokee County in the northwest portion of the state, is expected to create more than 150 jobs during the construction phase along with millions of dollars injected into the local economy.

Separately, Google signed a pair of power purchase agreements for 196 MW of wind power from two new South Dakota wind farms being developed by Avangrid Renewables. The Coyote Ridge and Tatanka Ridge wind farms in Brookings and Deuel Counties each total 98 MW, according to a separate Nov. 30 news release. Avangrid Renewables anticipates that the two wind farms would contribute more than $40 million over their lifetimes in combined land lease and tax payments.

Once the wind farms come online, the additional capacity will help Google reach its goal of purchasing enough renewable energy to match its energy consumption for global operations. Google said in October that it is on track to reach that goal by the end of this year. 

Gary Demasi, Google's director of global infrastructure, said in statements Nov. 30 that all three projects bring value to Google as it scales and accelerates its investment in the communities where it operates.

"With solar and wind declining dramatically in cost and propelling significant employment growth, the transition to clean energy is driving unprecedented economic opportunity and doing so faster than we ever anticipated," he said. 

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