Jannah Theme License is not validated, Go to the theme options page to validate the license, You need a single license for each domain name.
Economy

Google invests in Taiwan’s New Green Power to boost renewable energy capacity

Google has made a financial stake in Taiwan’s New Green Power to potentially acquire up to 300 megawatts of renewable energy, supporting its goal of carbon-free operations. The investment in a leading solar developer aligns with Taiwan’s renewable energy targets and aims to reduce emissions in the region.

Google has taken a financial stake in Taiwan’s New Green Power (NGP), a solar energy developer and operator owned by a fund managed by BlackRock’s Climate Infrastructure business. This move enables Google to potentially purchase up to 300 megawatts of renewable energy from NGP, aiming to reduce its carbon emissions and those of its suppliers.

The investment aligns with Google’s objective to rely entirely on carbon-free energy across its global operations. However, the increasing demand for data processing to support artificial intelligence has led to a rise in emissions. Taiwan, a critical hub for Google’s cloud technology operations with a data center and offices, currently relies on fossil fuels for nearly 85% of its energy. This makes Google’s investment significant as it supports the development of a large-scale solar pipeline in Taiwan.

Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s Global Head of Data Center Energy, emphasized that this investment is part of Google’s broader strategy to support green energy infrastructure in regions like Asia Pacific, which tends to have more challenging decarbonization scenarios due to less developed infrastructure.

New Green Power is recognized as one of Taiwan’s leading solar developers and operators. According to David Giordano, BlackRock’s Global Head of Climate Infrastructure, the investment is expected to facilitate the funding for an anticipated 1 gigawatt (GW) solar pipeline. Taiwan has set ambitious renewable energy targets, aiming for 20 GW of solar capacity by 2025 and up to 80 GW by 2050.

Apart from meeting its own energy needs, Google plans to offer some of the acquired solar power to its suppliers and manufacturers in the region. This strategy aims to help reduce Google’s Scope 3 emissions, which are the indirect emissions linked to its supply chain.

The size of the equity stake taken by Google in NGP remains undisclosed.

By Simon Jessop and Susanna Twidale.

Tags:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *