The “multi-year” partnership will make Google pay for energy generated from solar panels installed on 500 of public housing in Singapore, using it to power its local operations.
Google will pay for the energy generated from solar panels installed on the roofs of 500 of public housing in Singapore, energy that will then be used to power its local operations. The initiative is part of a “multi-year” partnership with local energy companies Sembcorp Power and Sembcorp Solar.
The partnership would allow the solar energy generated to go “directly into the electricity supply” of Google’s operations, the US technology provider said on Tuesday. The deal was his second renewable energy deal in Asia, following a “long-term deal” signed in January 2019 to purchase power generated from a 10-megawatt solar installation in Taiwan’s Tainan City.
Noting their latest collaboration in Singapore, Google said: “The agreement is a pioneer in seamlessly integrating solar energy directly into an existing power supply, which Sembcorp and Google hope will be a positive first step in making renewable energy more accessible. for all Singapore energy users in the future. “
Both Sembcorp entities are part of Sembcorp Industries, an energy and urban development group that currently has nearly 240 megawatts of capacity from solar projects in Singapore, as well as 2,600 megawatts from wind and solar projects in China, India and Vietnam.
When asked, Google declined to reveal how much it was investing in the Sembcorp deal or what percentage of its local operations would be supported by power generated by the partnership. It also declined to reveal how much capacity would be generated, citing a nondisclosure agreement.
Google told ZDNet, however, that SembCorp would not require the construction of any other infrastructure as the supply of electrons, both green and brown, would be delivered through the national grid.
The CEO of the US tech giant, Stephanie Davis, said in a statement that the deal was part of Google’s commitment to go carbon-free 24/7 by 2030.
Announced yesterday, its plans to do so would trade with its data centers and offices, according to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. “This will mean that every email you send through Gmail, every question you ask Google Search, every YouTube video you watch, and every route you take with Google Maps, is supplied by clean energy every hour of every day.” Pichai said.
He outlined Google’s efforts to do so by investing in new technologies to enable manufacturing regions to get 5 gigawatts of new carbon-free energy, helping 500 cities, including Hamburg and Houston, reduce a total of 1 gigaton of carbon emissions by year. The company would also introduce new products to help one billion people make more sustainable decisions.
The company establishes its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, where it operates two data centers, and a third is currently under construction. It launched its first GCP region in Singapore in 2017, which supported a clientele that included Singapore Airlines, Carousell, Ninja Van, MyRepublic, and Wego.
Located in Jurong West, Google’s third local data center would be located in the same neighborhood as the first two sites and cost an estimated $ 300 million, increasing its total investment in building its data center footprint here to $ 850 million.
Singapore earlier this month launched an initiative together with four international energy companies to ask startups to present and develop digital solutions to help address key challenges in their sector. Local government agency Enterprise Singapore, as well as Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips, aimed to pursue potential new technologies to solve 19 challenge statements around sustainability, robotics, workflow, and asset management.