Tech Companies Chase Green Energy

Tech Companies Among the Top Buyers

Technology companies including Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOGL), Facebook (FB), and Microsoft (MSFT) are in a race to secure renewable energy to power their massive data centers and meet goals of curbing emissions. These four firms are among the top corporate buyers, accounting for 30% of renewable energy purchase agreements.

The tech giants are using their large cash reserves to fund solar, wind, and other renewable energy projects at a rate never seen before. Developers in some countries said the tech giants will pay upfront and agree to lock in a price for extended periods of time.

Amazon Eyes Big Purchase

Amazon plans to purchase 1.5 gigawatts of renewable energy from 14 new solar and wind plants as it aims to have enough alternative energy to cover its operations by 2025. The projects spread across seven states in the US as well as in Canada, Finland, and Spain.

The plants will power Amazon’s cloud and web services businesses. Operations will begin over the course of the next three years. With these new deals, Amazon is now the number one US corporate buyer of renewable energy. Meanwhile, Microsoft recently inked power-purchasing deals that are expected to push it to the top of the list of the biggest buyers of clean energy.

Data Usage Drives Demand

Surging data usage and the need for more computer processing have been behind tech companies’ push to purchase record amounts of green energy. The tech giants are taking a variety of approaches as they shift to using green energy. Microsoft said it is looking at power grids to determine when and where the most carbon is being emitted. Google, which began matching energy consumptions and renewables in 2017, is now trying to adopt a system through which it can match hourly, rather than just annually.

Tech companies are not likely to slow down their green energy purchases anytime soon. It will be interesting to see what impact their initiatives have on the environment and investors’ pockets.

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