Digital Realty, the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions, and the global energy company ENGIE, have announced an agreement that will drive the expansion of renewable energies in Germany with the development of a new large solar park.
The two companies have signed a ten-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 116 megawatts (MW) share of a new 154 MW ground mounted solar photovoltaic project. Digital Realty’s offtake commitment, estimated at 120 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year, supports the construction of the new solar park to be built by CEE Group, an infrastructure fund specialising in renewable energy projects. Located in Brandenburg in the northeast of Germany, the solar park is scheduled to start operation in late 2023.
“The climate challenge is one of the critical issues facing society today. As an industry-leader, Digital Realty focuses on supporting the evolving needs of our global customer base, helping them deliver growth, while supporting net-new renewable energy projects where we operate,” said Volker Ludwig, managing director, Germany, Digital Realty.
Ludwig continued: “Digital Realty is committed to powering its data centres with renewable energy and supporting new and sustainable domestic energy sources. We are working hard to make the switch to renewable power across our entire portfolio and support the development of renewable energy projects like this new solar power plant as our business continues to expand. This project will further improve the quality and impact of our renewable portfolio by reducing our reliance on existing renewable resources and supplanting them with Guarantees of Origin from this new solar park.”
Digital Realty has achieved 100 per cent renewable energy coverage for its entire European portfolio and its U.S. colocation portfolio, and is carbon neutral in France (Scopes 1 and 2), resulting in 64 per cent renewable energy coverage across its global portfolio in 2021, representing an increase of 14 per cent from 2020. In 2022, Digital Realty further expanded its renewable portfolio and added green assets to the energy grid, contracting for 490 MW of solar and wind to support its global data centre portfolio.
As the interface between CEE and Digital Realty, ENGIE worked to match the supply with the demand for renewable energy, as well as design a flexible PPA tailored to the needs of Digital Realty.
“We are pleased to support Digital Realty’s efforts to add new renewables in markets where the company operates. As a major player in renewable PPAs, we have the opportunity to match suppliers and buyers of green power, even in a highly volatile market environment. This transaction supports the development of new renewable energies in Germany and enhances the continued sustainable operation of Digital Realty’s data centres” said Katrin Fuhrmann, head of origination, ENGIE.
In 2020, Digital Realty set aggressive science-based carbon emissions targets with the Science-Based Target initiative (SBTi), becoming the first global data centre organization of its size and scale to do so. The business has committed to reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 68 per cent and Scope 3 emissions by 24 per cent by 2030.
