Google has signed up to offtake 50 MW of Ørsted’s planned 900 MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm in the German North Sea.
Under a 12-year corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA), Ørsted will contribute to Google’s commitment to operating all of its data centres, cloud regions, and campuses on 24/7 carbon free energy by 2030.
Borkum Riffgrund 3 was the world’s first large-scale offshore wind farm to be granted with no bids, and it is scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2025. Because the project was not granted government subsidies, the agreement with Google will help Ørsted provide revenue stability and develop Borkum Riffgrund 3 towards a final investment decision, which is scheduled by the end of 2021.
Google has pioneered the concept of 24/7 carbon free energy, where every kWh of power consumption is matched by carbon-free electricity production every hour, on the grid where the electricity is consumed. The company is, together with Ørsted, one of the founding members of the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact, a movement coordinated by Sustainable Energy for All and the United Nations.
