Two cloud industry giants are committed to make their data centers more environmentally friendly.
Google and Microsoft, two of the biggest cloud-focused companies in the world, are considered to be constantly vying for business in the enterprise market. The two businesses do agree on one thing, though: the need to drastically alter the environmental impact that the world’s ever-expanding data centers are having.
New agreements to get clean energy from renewable sources have cleared the way for a more ecologically responsible cloud computing industry. Both Google and Microsoft are actively seeking for new sustainable energy for their operations in Europe with the ultimate objective of becoming entirely “carbon-free” in a short period of time.
Recently, Google announced a new Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Engie, a French-based utility company, to purchase 100 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy from a Scottish offshore wind farm. By using the new energy to support Mountain View’s activities in the UK, the company will be closer to being a carbon-free organization, at least in Europe.
With the most recent Engie PPA, Google anticipates being 90% carbon-free by 2025 and utilizing only renewable energy sources for its UK office and cloud regions by 2030. According to Matt Brittin, president of Google EMEA, consumers in the UK and Europe are growing more concerned about energy sources and climate change.
According to Brittin, Google is equally concerned about these issues and thinks technology will be crucial in resolving the energy crisis by lowering both its own emissions as well as those of others. To obtain 900MW of solar energy for a data center in Texas, Google previously signed a contract with SoftBank/SB Energy.
On the other hand, Microsoft is similarly conscious of the environmental impact of its cloud data centers and is equally devoted to improving the situation in Europe and worldwide. The Redmond giant recently announced a new PPA to supply 900 MW of renewable energy to its data centers in Ireland, raising the total amount of green energy available in its European capacity to over 10 gigawatts (GW).
Microsoft did not disclose any details regarding the new energy suppliers in Ireland, although other sources indicate that Statkraft (Norway) and Energia Group are parties to the new agreement (Ireland). The renewable energy is generated by a combination of wind and solar power plants, and Microsoft intends to make all of its data centers in Ireland carbon-free by the year 2025. Redmond already agreed to a 20-year contract with AES Corporation to run its data centers in California using renewable energy.
