Google the Wind Engine

Google is a noun, adjective and verb. It is also an internet giant. Now, Google may just become your next energy provider. Yesterday, the company announced a $38.8 million deal with NextEra Energy Resources for wind energy supply for the next 20 years.

There's this viral statistic going around that half a millilitre of water is needed for every Google search. I wonder if now, the new stat will be something about how much of a Google search is powered by the wind.

Now, although Google has made these investments into wind energy to work towards carbon neutrality, there has been a bit of speculation over the company selling some of the energy purchased back into the grid. Here's what Google have to say:

In this case, we’re buying renewable energy directly from its source – the wind farm. We cannot use this energy directly, so we’re reselling it back to the grid in the regional spot market – but retiring the RECs associated with the power. By obtaining RECs through the purchase of green power, our deal has a greater impact on the renewable industry than simply buying “naked” RECs from third parties; our long-term commitment directly frees up capital for the developer to build more wind projects.

Google's direct investment into wind energy is helping the clean energy develop in infrastructure, but it may also be the catalyst for other companies to follow suit.

The energy market just got a lot more exciting.

(Spotted on Google, obviously)

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