Google signs 20-year deal to power data centers with wind energy
By Donald Melanson 
posted July 20th 2010 3:45PM
posted July 20th 2010 3:45PM
NextEra Energy Resources signs PPA with Google Energy to supply wind power
JUNO BEACH, Fla. – NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, the competitive energy subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) and North America's leading generator of wind power, today announced that it has entered into a power purchase agreement with Google Energy, LLC. Google Energy will purchase 114 megawatts of clean, renewable energy from NextEra Energy Resources' Story II Wind Energy Center in operation in Story and Hardin counties in Iowa.
"We are thrilled to welcome Google Energy to our growing list of customers and appreciate their support of emission-free, renewable energy," said Mike O'Sullivan, senior vice president of development for NextEra Energy Resources. "With the support of customers like Google Energy, we've built our wind fleet from fewer than 500 megawatts a decade ago to more than 7,600 megawatts – the largest fleet in North America today."
The 150-megawatt Story II Wind Energy Center began operation in December 2009. Power deliveries to Google Energy will begin on July 30, 2010. The remaining 36 megawatts from the Story II Wind Energy Center are currently being sold to the city of Ames, Iowa.
NextEra Energy Resources is no stranger to Iowa. The company currently has nearly 700 wind turbines in operation in Iowa with a nameplate capacity of more than 1,000 megawatts that are capable of generating enough power to serve more than 250,000 average homes.
NextEra Energy Resources now has more than 9,000 wind turbines in operation at 77 wind farms in 17 states and Canada. The company's North American wind fleet avoided approximately 14 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2009, which is the equivalent of removing approximately 2.4 million cars from the road, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's carbon-equivalency calculator.
NextEra Energy Resources
NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is a clean energy leader and one of the largest competitive energy suppliers in North America. A subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), NextEra Energy Resources is the largest generator in North America of renewable energy from the wind and sun. It operates clean, emissions-free nuclear power generation facilities in New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin as part of the NextEra Energy nuclear fleet, which is the third largest in the United States. NextEra Energy had 2009 revenues of more than $15 billion, nearly 43,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and more than 15,000 employees in 28 states and Canada. For more information, visit www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
JUNO BEACH, Fla. – NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, the competitive energy subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE) and North America's leading generator of wind power, today announced that it has entered into a power purchase agreement with Google Energy, LLC. Google Energy will purchase 114 megawatts of clean, renewable energy from NextEra Energy Resources' Story II Wind Energy Center in operation in Story and Hardin counties in Iowa.
"We are thrilled to welcome Google Energy to our growing list of customers and appreciate their support of emission-free, renewable energy," said Mike O'Sullivan, senior vice president of development for NextEra Energy Resources. "With the support of customers like Google Energy, we've built our wind fleet from fewer than 500 megawatts a decade ago to more than 7,600 megawatts – the largest fleet in North America today."
The 150-megawatt Story II Wind Energy Center began operation in December 2009. Power deliveries to Google Energy will begin on July 30, 2010. The remaining 36 megawatts from the Story II Wind Energy Center are currently being sold to the city of Ames, Iowa.
NextEra Energy Resources is no stranger to Iowa. The company currently has nearly 700 wind turbines in operation in Iowa with a nameplate capacity of more than 1,000 megawatts that are capable of generating enough power to serve more than 250,000 average homes.
NextEra Energy Resources now has more than 9,000 wind turbines in operation at 77 wind farms in 17 states and Canada. The company's North American wind fleet avoided approximately 14 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2009, which is the equivalent of removing approximately 2.4 million cars from the road, according to the Environmental Protection Agency's carbon-equivalency calculator.
NextEra Energy Resources
NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is a clean energy leader and one of the largest competitive energy suppliers in North America. A subsidiary of Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), NextEra Energy Resources is the largest generator in North America of renewable energy from the wind and sun. It operates clean, emissions-free nuclear power generation facilities in New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin as part of the NextEra Energy nuclear fleet, which is the third largest in the United States. NextEra Energy had 2009 revenues of more than $15 billion, nearly 43,000 megawatts of generating capacity, and more than 15,000 employees in 28 states and Canada. For more information, visit www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
Wind Farms are awesome. Good job Google.
@Ninetysix
Agreed, this is another reason why I love Google.
@donv69 Everyone knows its Windy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qlqwpq7xycU (breaking bad reference)
@donv69 yeah man i agree 100%. Google is just my kind of company. Love their products and the way they think. Keep up the good work. CANT WAIT FOR GINGER BREAD!!
@Ninetysix Is this a Wind-Data Farm, or a Data-Wind Farm?
@Ninetysix
Agreed. Go alternate energy and go Google!
@Ninetysix
Here is the real story..
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Google-Is-Now-Speculating-In-siliconalley-3703679987.html?x=0&.v=1
@Ninetysix unless you live near one... then they're loud.
@donv69 I love the products Google makes, but what giant corporation gives away so many services for free? They seem to want to be involved in every aspect of our lives... Soon, they're gonna control everything. I better get a job with them quick. lol.
@Ninetysix
So Google is good for using wind power. What about Nextera?
Disclaimer: I work for Nextera!
@Ninetysix Wind farms are horribly inefficient.
@Ninetysix
Oh Google. You win so very very hard.
Your getting Googles in my air!!
Bloom boxes not good enough I take it?
Wind energy is fine but I'd rather data centers ran nuclear. I don't want Google getting a 404 when the breeze dies down. Their fancy button loading delay already pisses me off.
@Ninetysix
SWEET!!
@Ninetysix
Oh Google just knows how to milk the cows! Damn they are soo good at this!
Best news I've heard all day.
So now you have to check the weather forecast before you can make a quick search on google.
This is what Apple should have done to get everyone's mind off of antenna-gate.
@donv69 yaaaa I think Apple would need to do more to bury the sh!t storm they created.
@donv69
Would they blend the wind turbine and a cell phone antenna tower together? That would fix their reception problems in places that were windy.
@Xtole
It says a lot about society when a product defect holds the attention of grown adults for weeks on end. A lot.
@Xtole
i wonder if they care
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/20/apple-posts-record-3-25b-profits-in-first-full-quarter-of-ipad/
@donv69
Apple just signed a 20 year contract with Foxconn in which their servers will be powered by the energy released when a worker expires.
@sonicyoof Bad taste, man. Bad taste.
@donv69 good google, bad apple.
Impressive.
*Most* impressive
@Lord Vader this guy cracks me up. but really, maybe google has already become self aware. its just securing its energy needs for the next 20 years while it exterminates the humans.
Google rocks!!!
Google Rifa!!!
They also applied to be an energy broker, so they could sell this energy or whatever energy they have "over bought".
This energy broker application looks like a pretty smart idea.
Bravo google.
This and IBM heating pools with heat from server farms is fuzzing cool
haven't heard much from Bloom Energy since their splash on 60 Minutes
Wait...You're telling me that a major company will run off of electricity generated simply by the wind? Ha! Next you're going to tell me that the sun is an endless and viable alternative source of energy as well. That's just crazy talk. Now if you don't mind I need to get back to hydraulic fracturing for natural gas 'cause that's a "real" "clean" fuel source. (GASLAND)
@nanascho
No that would be nuclear power. Thorium reactors to be more precise. But Lightwater Reactor also suffices.
Oh shit, google is down right now. How's the wind out there?
This is great news for those of us who prefer to lower our own carbon footprint, because using Google's services - whether it's search or docs or gmail - results in a lowered carbon footprint than if we used Bing.
See, things like this are exactly why I love google. (:
@DS1495
Exactly, other companies would do well to copy Google in this regard, also you're smiley is upside down... but that's okay :)
@2late2die you're=your (Engadget, for the umpteenth time, edit button, gimme it, nao!)
google's taking over the world!
What happens when there's no wind for a few days?
@DigitalDaddy Yeah that would never occur to Google I'm sure.
@DigitalDaddy
Those giant guinea pigs from the Kia commercials? They bring them out to run on super giant running machines that are attached to the turbines of those windmills.
@DigitalDaddy
They have somebody on the Board of Directors, name:
Al Gore he can make a wind himself, lot's of it.
Someone in Iowa is getting laid tonight
@moneymark
"honey i just finalized the big google deal, we're gunna be rich!"
Google is the anti-evil. Go Google!
A reactor the size of a bath tub would be smarter. Green is the new rip off scam of the century. Sadly, most Americans have no concept of physics, math or basic economics to realize Green = waste.