GigaOM // Sep 17, 2013

This week, Google announced its largest wind power purchase to date: 240 megawatts from a wind farm in Amarillo, TX, will power Google’s Mayes County, OK, data center, at least indirectly. Google is a long-time proponent of wind energy, having acquired Makani Power (a kite-based wind energy company) and invested in an offshore wind “backbone” earlier this year, and the company has committed to using renewable energy to power its data centers wherever possible.

Unfortunately, Google can’t do that here. Because Texas is separated from the power grid that serves Oklahoma, the power purchased from the Happy Hereford wind farm cannot power the data center directly. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, however, as GigaOM’s Katie Fehrenbacher explains: “Google will sell the energy into the wholesale energy market, retire the associated renewable energy credits and apply additional credits to lowering its overall carbon footprint.”

Read more here.