Power Capital Renewable Energy and Google have recently finalised a purchase agreement in Ireland, securing 58 megawatts (MW) of new grid capacity from the Tullabeg Solar Farm. This strategic partnership paves the way for the development of a significant renewable energy project, adding a fresh stream of renewable power to Ireland’s electricity grid. The energy generated will play a pivotal role in powering Google’s offices and data centres while actively contributing to Ireland’s ongoing efforts to decarbonise its electricity system.
Beyond advancing Google’s sustainability objectives, this renewable energy initiative aligns with Ireland’s national renewable energy targets. The Irish Government’s Climate Action Plan aims to fulfil 80% of the country’s electricity demand with renewable energy, with a specific sub-target requiring 15% of electricity demand from corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) by 2030.
This substantial effort equates to the installation of over 9 million solar panels. These renewable energy agreements, in combination with Google’s carbon-intelligent computing platform, which optimises compute tasks to leverage renewable energy sources, enable the company to operate environmentally friendly data centres and offices.
Justin Brown and Peter Duff, co-CEOs and founders of Power Capital Renewable Energy, said the company is very active in the corporate power purchase market.
“The opportunity to partner with Google on a transaction like this is very significant milestone for us,” the two CEOs said.
“Understanding the requirements and aligning the interests of both companies to achieve the desired outcome has resulted in a further 83MW of solar energy being connected to the grid, reducing Ireland’s carbon emissions, and helping reach the 2030 targets,” they added.
Ainhoa Anda, Data Centre Energy Senior Lead at Google, said that climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time, but added that technology can be part of the solution.
“We’re excited to collaborate with Power Capital Renewable Energy for our first long-term renewable energy deal in Ireland because deals like these take us one step closer to a carbon-free future, by helping to add new clean energy sources to Ireland’s grid,” Ainhoa Anda added.
