Data center operator Digital Realty announced last week that it has entered into two renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) in California and Georgia for 158 MW of solar energy.
The first deal involves 12-year partnership with renewable energy developer Terra-Gen. The contract will support the construction of the 130 MW Edwards Sanborn Solar Storage energy project in Kern County, California, which is scheduled to be completed in late-2022 and is likely to become one of the world’s largest solar-plus-storage projects.
The data center company has also joined Georgia Power’s Customer Renewable Supply Procurement program, enabling it to acquire 28 MW of solar supply to serve its Atlanta data center portfolio. The electricity will be generated by new solar plants located in Georgia. Digital Realty is expected to receive power and renewable energy certificates under the program beginning in 2024.
“These efforts are part of our strategy to reduce our carbon footprint,” stated Digital Realty CEO A. William Stein. “We are demonstrating that the data center industry is a key part of the transition to a digital economy that is powered by clean energy.”
Digital Realty has pledged in 2020 to reduce its Scope 1 and 2 emissions (direct and indirect emissions) by 68% by 2030, and Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions in its value chain) by 24%.
Under the ENERGY STAR Certification Program launched by the US Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Digital Realty certified 34 data centers in 2021, totaling 765 MW of IT capability. This is a 15% increase in MW-IT capacity certified over the previous year and covers 65% of the company’s owned and managed portfolio in the United States.
Digital Realty’s program-certified facilities cut carbon emissions by 408,000 metric tonnes per year and save 943,000 MW of energy, which is enough to power about 79,000 households in the US.
The company was also recently ranked No. 9 on the EPA’s Top 30 Tech & Telecom List and No. 21 overall on the National Top 100 List as part of the Green Power Partnership.
According to the EPA’s Green Power Partnership standards, Digital Realty consumes over 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours of green power in the US each year, equivalent to the annual electricity use of more than 99,000 American homes.
