Google Diversifies To Produce Green Electricity Commercially
Google inc. headquartered in Mountain View, California, has finalized a 20-year deal with NextEra Energy, located in Story County, Iowa, to procure 114 megawatts of electrical power generation through wind energy. This is the first major deal Google has done after acquiring approval from the US government to trade in the commercial electricity business. Google achieved this feat after a couple of years of their interest and investments in many of the solar, wind and geothermal projects in US.
This has definitely given a boost to Google, by giving them the ability to check and control future increases in power prices by other players in the market. By doing so, Google can protect their investments by using their in-house electricity for their huge data centers spread across the various locations. Though so far Google has never declared how much power their data centers consume, or even how many or where they are, they have claimed to have the most efficient ones in the industry.
Whether Google consumes all of the electricity produced by their new venture, or sells some of it on the market is unclear as of now. But the largest search engine giant has certainly indicated their desire to "go green" and reduce their carbon footprint. They may also opt for more clean energy or eco-friendly energy projects in the coming years.
Another good question: will Google be able to beat other regional energy suppliers in terms of price if they plan to supply power to local energy grids, thereby prompting a price war?
Overall, this is a good move by Google that supports the trend of thinking and going green.
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