Tech giant Google has signed a long-term agreement to buy solar power from a 10 MW solar array, which is a part of a larger solar farm located in Tainan City.

This will be Google’s first purchase of renewable energy in Asia. According to the company’s statement, it is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy and has signed with more than 30 solar and wind projects across the Americas and Europe to date.

Recently, Taiwanese government amended its Electricity Act to allow non-utility companies to directly buy renewable energy to reduce their carbon footprint.

The solar project, having 40,000 solar panels, is located 100 kilometers south of Google’s Changhua county data center.

“For Google, the solar purchase agreement provides a long-term and fixed electricity price to support our operations in Taiwan; it will also boost the carbon-free profile of our local data center”, the company statement said.

Earlier, Mercom reported on Google’s announcement to invest 4.5 billion Danish crowns ($690 million) in building a renewable powered data center in Fredericia, located in western Denmark.

Apart from Google, a host of other multinationals have begun utilizing renewable energy sources to meet their electricity requirements in a sustainable manner.

In August 2018, Facebook released a statement that it will power all its facilities, including office and data centers, with 100 percent clean and renewable energy by 2020.

In July 2018, Walmart India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart Inc, said it is planning to incorporate sustainable sources such as solar energy, water harvesting, and recycling to run its stores in the country.

June 2018, Infosys, India’s software multinational giant, had announced that it has developed a total capacity of 46.1 MW of rooftop and ground-mounted solar projects across the country.

In March 2018, Microsoft announced the completion of its first renewable energy deal in India. Under the agreement, the company said it would purchase 3 MW of solar-power from Atria Power for its new office building in Karnataka’s capital city, Bengaluru. It will meet 80 percent of the projected electricity needs through this energy purchase.

All these companies are a member of RE100, a global initiative by companies committed to use 100 percent renewable energy.

In June 2018, Mercom reported that Amazon India, a global e-commerce giant, announced that it was going to set up 8,000 kW of rooftop solar installations at its fulfilment centers and sorting facilities across the country. This initiative in India is a part of Amazon’s global vision to power 50 of its fulfilment and sorting centers with solar energy by the end of 2020. It has already installed 1,600 kW of solar panels at its centers in Delhi and Hyderabad.

Nitin is a staff reporter at Mercomindia.com and writes on renewable energy and related sectors. Prior to Mercom, Nitin has worked for CNN IBN, India News, Agricultural Spectrum and Bureaucracy Today. He received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Communication from Manipal Institute of Communication at Manipal University and Master’s degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs. More articles from Nitin Kabeer