Google signs deal for solar from a division of Softbank in Texas

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The company signed the corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) with SB Energy, a major renewables platform backed by the Softbank Group and Ares Management. The move, which marks Google’s largest purchase of renewable electricity till date in Texas, will enable the tech company to power its data centers in the Midlothian and Dallas regions with 100% clean power, matched on an hourly basis. The agreement will also support the company’s commitment to operate entirely on carbon-free energy by 2030. The projects linked to the contract are expected to be operational by mid-2024.

As per Google’s latest climate action report (published in Nov’22), Google has signed more than sixty PPAs globally during 2010-2021, for more than 7 GW of renewable energy. As of 2021, the company had achieved five consecutive years of 100% renewable energy matching, on an annual basis. Google also committed ~$6bn to purchase power from wind and solar projects globally through 2040.

In May 2021, Google signed a PPA with AES to source up to 500 MW from a portfolio of wind, solar, hydro and storage projects in Virginia, helping their data centres in the state to run on 90% carbon-free power, on an hourly basis. A few months later, Google announced a similar deal with ENGIE to develop a carbon-free energy portfolio in Germany, that will lift their operations there to nearly 80% carbon-free energy starting in 2022.

https://enerdatics.com/blog/corporate-ppa-google-signs-its-largest-corporate-ppa-for-942-mw-of-power-from-four-solar-projects-in-texas/

Of course 'matched on an hourly basis' is a fudge mechanism because as we all know, the Sun sets everyday...

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Google will use the energy from the SoftBank Group Corp-backed (9984.T) company, which will have a capacity of about 3 GW by early next year, to power data centers in Texas, Alphabet said.

SB Energy's Orion 1, 2 and 3 and Eiffel solar projects which total nearly 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of capacity are expected to be ready to supply power by mid-2024.

https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/google-signs-solar-power-supply-deal-with-softbank-backed-sb-energy-2022-11-01/