Google Partners Ireland’s Solar Firm to Achieve Carbon-free Energy Grid Operation

As part of Google’s ambition to run on 24/7 carbon-free energy on every grid where it operates, the California-based firm has today announced signing an agreement with Ireland’s solar energy firm – Power Capital Renewable Energy for 58 megawatts (MW) of new-to-the-grid capacity from the Tullabeg Solar Farm.

This agreement will enable the construction of a new renewable energy project. It will add new renewable energy to the grid that Google offices and data centers run on, contributing to the decarbonisation of Ireland’s electricity system and of their operations.

“Our current projections indicate that, once operational, this PPA will help our offices and data center in Ireland to reach 60% carbon-free energy in 2025 when measured on an hourly basis. At present, we already match 100% of our electricity consumption of our global operations with purchases of renewable energy on an annual basis, said Ainhoa Anda, Google’s Lead Data Center Energy.”

According to the firm, today’s power purchase agreement (PPA), is its first long-term renewable energy deal in Ireland, bringing Google one step closer to making their ambition a reality.

“But this deal goes one step further: we will be adding carbon free energy directly to Ireland’s grid — right where and when we use it. We will continue to support the development of additional clean energy resources on the Irish grid to achieve our goal of operating on 100% carbon-free energy, every hour of every day, he continues.”

Google said renewable initiatives like this one assist Ireland in meeting its own renewable energy targets in addition to helping Google decarbonize its services. According to the Irish government’s climate action plan, renewable energy will supply 80% of the country’s electrical needs. It also includes a sub-target for corporate power users, requiring that by 2030, 15% of the nation’s electricity demand be satisfied by corporate PPAs. Ireland is getting closer to these objectives thanks to this effort.

Since 2020, Google has announced its ambition to run on 24/7 carbon-free energy on every grid where it operates every hour of every day by 2030. Therefore, the firm has been working hard to transition its operations and the electricity grids that serve them to cleaner sources of power, through a combination of clean energy procurement, technology innovation, and policy advocacy.