Google calls for wind power

Google first bought wind power directly to supply electricity to a data center in Oklahoma. Prior to this, Google has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in projects, one way or another connected with clean energy, however, it came to supplying data centers for the first time.



Google advocated the introduction of clean energy and invested huge amounts of money in it for many years. Last Wednesday, the company announced that it would directly use clean energy to power one of the data centers in Oklahoma. The company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in solar and wind projects throughout the United States in order to one day start supplying clean energy to its data centers.

Of course, this step has been planned for quite some time. Former Google energy king Bill Weihl, who now works on Facebook, said a few years ago that everything is going to use clean energy in data centers, but even a search giant like Google took some time to find the right project and reliable supplier.

The processing center itself was built in Mayes County, Oklahoma in 2011. Earlier this year, Google began working with the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) to buy 48 MW of wind power from the Canadian Hills Wind Project in Oklahoma. According to Google, they paid much more for this energy than they could for ordinary cheap energy anywhere else, just to support the project. As Greenpeace notes, half of the Oklahoma power system is coal-fired.

Google says that the GRDA also long planned to sell energy to Google, and the “wind” project is their first project based on clean energy. In fact, it would be great if there were more clean energy suppliers in the world, because many large energy consumers want to use it and are even willing to pay extra for it, but they are not looking for suppliers as actively as Google.

Most large Internet companies strive to build their data centers where energy is cheap and easily accessible. And such energy, as a rule, is energy from minerals - coal and gas. As exceptions, you can highlight, perhaps, places like Iceland, where there is a lot of cheap geothermal and water clean energy.

This case is the first in our memory when the owner of a data center buys energy at an inflated price, so Google should be given credit. Greenpeace, by the way, spoke about this in the news:

Today’s Google statement says that the most intelligent, successful and forward-looking companies are serious about moving towards the use of clean energy.

Let's hope that Google’s first step is just the beginning of a long journey.

Google is initially convinced that you need to work with clean energy suppliers, unlike other Internet companies that try to produce clean energy on their own. Apple, for example, is building huge solar and biofuel farms near its data centers in Maiden, Northern California. The auction giant eBay is also building a huge energy center near one of its data centers.

Leading Internet companies are just starting to work with clean energy, experimenting with it, but the vast majority still prefer cheap fossil energy.

Will such a move by Google begin the new era in the energy supply of large companies?

Do you think it is worth waiting for this in our country, or until the largest IT companies start building their data centers in the Russian Federation, is there no point in talking about it?