French energy company Engie and global tech giant Google have announced an arrangement wherein the former will supply the latter with 24×7 carbon free energy in Germany to ensure its operations in the country are nearly 80% carbon free by 2022.
Engie called it the 1st of a kind arrangement in Europe where a company is guaranteeing carbon-free supply 24×7 on an annual basis from solar and wind generation.
Engie will assemble and negotiate an energy portfolio of 140 MW solar and wind energy and supply it to Google, along with providing comprehensive energy management services including sourcing of residual supply, balancing pool management, grid management, and more.
Engie's Senior Executive Vice President for Renewable and Global Energy Management activities, Paulo Almirante said it can either build assets or source power from different existing plants to honor the supply to Google.
For Google, this arrangement will contribute to its Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) target for all its operations by 2030, announced in September 2020 when the company committed to 5 GW new carbon-free energy across its key manufacturing regions (see Google Aims To Go Carbon Free By 2030).
This agreement between the 2 companies furthers an existing collaboration signed in 2019 in the form of 5-year power purchase agreement in Belgium for power supply from an offshore wind project, followed by a similar contract in the Netherlands.