Google reaches clean energy agreement with SRP to power Mesa data center
Google and Salt River Project inked a deal to power a Mesa data center with wind and solar. Metro Phoenix is the second data hub in the U.S. Google has announced an eight-year clean energy agreement with utility Salt River Project (SRP) to support its new data center in Mesa, Arizona. The agreement involves 434 megawatts of clean wind and solar energy, stored some of it in batteries, and will power three facilities owned by NextEra Energy Resources on SRP’s power grid. The data center, Google's first in Arizona, is expected to open in 2025 and will support search, Google maps, Gmail and other services. The company will also finance programs in Mesa’�s Shade Tree Program that will result in 600 new tree plantings annually. The new Mesa data center will use air-cooling technology to cool servers and other equipment.
Publicerad : 2 månader sedan förbi Russ Wiles i Business Environment
Google has announced an eight-year clean energy agreement with utility Salt River Project to support the tech company’s new data center in Mesa.
The pact calls for 434 megawatts of clean wind and solar energy, storing some of it in batteries. That will power three facilities owned by NextEra Energy Resources on SRP’s power grid. That's roughly enough energy to power 100,000 average-sized homes.
Google broke ground on the Mesa data center, its first in Arizona, last year.
Operations start in 2025, helping to support searching, Google maps, Gmail and other services. The company also will finance programs in Mesa’s Shade Tree Program that will result in 600 new tree plantings annually, with the shade helping to reduce urban heat.
The three power-generating facilities supporting the data center and run by Florida-based NextEra are the Sonoran Solar Energy Center, the Storey Energy Center and the Babbitt Ranch Energy Center.
The Babbit Ranch wind farm under construction north of Flagstaff, a $280 million project, will feature roughly 50 turbines. The $600 million Sonoran Solar Energy Center in Buckeye began operating in December. The Storey Solar Energy Center in Coolidge also began operating in December.
Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s global head of data-center energy, in a blog said the new Mesa center will use air-cooling technology to cool servers and other equipment at the facility, in an effort to minimize water use there.
“Reaching at least 80% (carbon-free energy) for our Mesa data center is essential as we continue working toward our ambitious goal to run our entire business on 24/7 CFE by 2030,” she wrote in the blog. The energy will be added directly to SRP’s power grid.
Data centers are used to house servers and other equipment, including that supporting cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Metro Phoenix has emerged as the nation’s second largest hub of data centers, according to a recent study by Cushman & Wakefield. Arizona’s reliable power grid is one factor driving that growth, along with few natural hazards, land availability, access to technical talent and more.
Google utilizes data centers to keep its internet operations humming around the clock. The company operates data centers in 14 other U.S. locations, along with those in Europe, Asia and South America. More information can be seen at google.com/datacenters.
Ämnen: ESG