Google has added a huge amount of renewable energy to its portfolio: The Happy Hereford wind farm outside Amarillo. Google has agreed to purchase the entire output, 270-megawatts, of the wind farm according to KCET.
The purchase of this output places Google’s total energy contracts at 570 MW, which is equivalent to a medium size coal plant. That’s enough to power 170,000 U.S. households.
The official Google blog says it is their quest to power operations with 100% renewable energy. The blog goes on to say the wind farm will provide energy to the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the regional grid that serves the Mayes County, Oklahoma data center. The power generated will not be directly used by the data center, but the impact of the company’s overall carbon footprint is the same as if they were.