Google is aggressively pursuing the expansion of its presence in Europe, in an effort to capitalize on the availability of vast natural and renewable resources in the northern part of the continent.
The company recently announced its plans to set up a data center in Denmark, the company’s fifth data center in Europe.
The search giant will invest close to $700 million for the development of this new data center, which will use renewable energy. Google intends to leverage abundant green energy and renewable energy production in Denmark in order to keep its energy consumption free of carbon.
Denmark is home to a large wind energy sector including turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems and offshore wind farm developer Orsted.
Google’s Past Energy Efficiency Initiatives
In October, Xcel Energy announced it is working with Google to deliver tools customers can use to manage their energy use and save money. Through this collaboration, Xcel Energy is launching its first set of voice actions using the Google Assistant as a seamless way for customers to access information about improving energy efficiency in their homes.
And in September, Google announced this week that it has signed a 10-year renewable energy deal to obtain power from three new wind farms being built in Finland. The wind energy will be used to power one of its data centers. Google said that the Finnish deal is the first where it is buying power from European projects that will not receive any government subsidies. The combined capacity of the three farms will be 190 megawatts (MW) and will be built by renewable energy developers Neoen of France and Germany’s CPC and WPD.
In 2017, Google partnered with E.ON, Germany’s largest utility, to introduce Google’s solar platform called Sunroof, which uses Google Earth imagery to analyze a buyer’s roof shape and local weather patterns and create a personalized solar plan. This partnership represented the first time that Sunroof will be offered outside the United States. Initially 7 million households in Germany will be able to calculate the solar potential of their homes on E.ON’s website; then directly order products such as photovoltaic modules from the company. Google will receive licensing fees.