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Wind power going ahead with Google

Google Energy’s First Purchase: 20 Years of Wind Power, Tech Crunch, by Lora Kolodny on Jul 20, 2010, Google Energy today announced an agreement to purchase 114 megawatts of wind power capacity per year for 20 years at a set price from an Iowa wind farm owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources……….. Google also made significant investments in clean energy research and development projects, and startups — including AltaRock Energy, eSolar and AlertMe — through its “Renewable Energy Cheaper Than Coal” (or RE<C) and other philanthropic, partnership and venture capital efforts.

The search leader won the federal government’s approval to buy and sell energy as of February this year.

Now Google Energy allows it to: get electricity at favorable prices, lock in these prices over the long haul, use the power it buys for its own data centers and operations, and sell surplus energy to regional markets. Through this strategy, Yood says, “We’re partially protecting ourselves against future increases in power prices.”

Google also gathers RECs or renewable energy certificates along the way. In the laymen’s view, RECs are just like carbon offsets……

Google Energy’s First Purchase: 20 Years of Wind Power

July 21, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, renewable | climate change, global warming, renewable energy, renewables, wind