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Google Buys Happy Hereford Wind Farm
Green Technology Featured Articles
September 17, 2013

Google Buys Happy Hereford Wind Farm

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

Google (News - Alert) has announced the acquisition of some “cash cows”—livestock as well as property—in the Texas Panhandle, representing the company’s second wind farm purchase in the Lone Star State this year.


“As part of our quest to power our [data center] operations with 100 percent renewable energy, we’ve agreed to purchase the entire output of the 240-megawatt (MW) Happy Hereford Wind Farm outside of Amarillo,” the Mountain View, California-based search firm said today on its blog.

The wind generation facility, which is expected to go online in late 2014, will provide energy to the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), the regional grid that serves Google’s Mayes County, Oklahoma, data center. It will be developed by Chermac Energy, a small, Native American-owned company based in Oklahoma.

Earlier this year, Google acquired the Spinning Spur Wind in Oldham County, about 35 miles from Amarillo, for about $200 million. The 161-MW facility was built by London-based developer EDF Renewable Energy. The energy created by Spinning Spur’s 70 2.3 MW Siemens (News - Alert) turbines has been contracted to SPS, a utility that primarily serves Texas and New Mexico.

Of the smaller project, Google said, “We look for projects like Spinning Spur because, in addition to creating more renewable energy and strengthening the local economy, they also make for smart investments: they offer attractive returns relative to the risks and allow us to invest in a broad range of assets.”

Google didn’t say how much it paid for Happy Hereford , but the company reportedly ended 2012 with over $1 billion invested in renewable energy—and with projects that cumulatively generate as much as 2 gigawatts (GW).  


Some (happy) heifers on the future site of the wind farm.  The cows will still have plenty of room to graze between the turbines. (Photo courtesy of Google.)

According to Matt Pfile, senior manager, Data Center and Location Strategy for Google, “This agreement represents our fifth long-term agreement and our largest commitment yet. We have now contracted for more than 570 MW of wind energy, which is enough energy to power approximately 170,000 U.S. households.

The structure of the new Happy Hereford Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) will be similar to that of the earlier commitments that Google made in Iowa and Oklahoma. Indeed, due to the current structure of the market, Google cannot consume the renewable energy produced by the wind farm directly for its data centers, “but,” said Pfile, “the impact on our overall carbon footprint and the amount of renewable energy on the grid is the same as if we could consume it. After purchasing the renewable energy, we’ll retire the renewable energy credits (RECs) and sell the energy, itself, to the wholesale market. We’ll apply any additional RECs produced under this agreement to reduce our carbon footprint elsewhere.”

Similarly, he noted, “In 2012, we signed an agreement with GRDA, our utility partner in Oklahoma, to green the energy supply to our … data center [in that state] with 48 MW of wind energy from the Canadian Hills Wind Project. [in El Reno, Oklahoma].  [And] earlier this year, we began working with Duke Energy (News - Alert) to develop a new renewable energy tariff in North Carolina.”




Edited by Ryan Sartor


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