Google Signs First Solar Purchase Deal in Asia

The world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy has signed a long-term agreement to purchase the output of a 10 MW solar array (part of a larger solar farm) in Tainan City, Taiwan.

Google has announced that after signing on to more than 30 solar and wind projects across the Americas and Europe, it has now added a fourth continent in Asia to its clean energy portfolio.

The world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy has signed a long-term agreement to purchase the output of a 10 MW solar array (part of a larger solar farm) in Tainan City, Taiwan.

This deal is a result of collaboration between Google, industry stakeholders and the Taiwanese government, which recently amended Taiwan’s Electricity Act to allow non-utility companies to directly buy renewable energy and decrease their carbon footprints. Google is the first corporate power purchaser to act on this renewables-friendly change to the law.

Standing 40,000 solar panels strong, the project in Taiwan will be located 100 kilometers south of our Changhua County data center and connected to the same regional power grid.

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. In addition, it’s a step in the right direction for grid reliability and Taiwan’s broader energy supply mix, which the government wants to expand and make more renewable in the coming years.

The project will have a unique design and community impact, with poles mounted into commercial fishing ponds to elevate solar panels several feet into the sky. This setup will maximize land-use efficiency, respect local ecology, and generate local economic benefits with the fishing community getting compensated for hosting solar panels on its ponds.