Due to the ongoing Paris Climate Conference, this is a season of major clean energy announcements, from Bill Gates’ coalition of billionaires pledged to support breakthrough technologies to plans for Africa to install 300 gigawatts of renewable capacity by 2030.
Now Google has announced its biggest new move yet.
The company is nearly doubling the amount of renewable energy feeding its massive data centers that enable more than 1 billion people to search for information, watch video clips and communicate virtually anytime they want.
The long-term commitments announced Thursday cover up to 842 megawatts of power that will flow from six wind and solar power projects scheduled to be finished within the next two years in the U.S., Chile and Sweden.
Google isn’t disclosing how much it expects to pay for the power.
“It’s an opportune time to make a strong statement,” said Gary Demasi, Google’s director of data center energy.
Google has now signed contracts covering 2 gigawatts of renewable energy, putting the company closer to its goal of having 3.6 gigawatts lined up by 2025.
