The use of solar energy for the data center — one of the goals of Google

Global Corporation Google is fighting for the use of solar energy in its data centers. In 2019, the company plans to provide Taiwan data center with “clean” energy. Previously, Google has made changes to local laws to be able to legally purchase the resource from the manufacturer.

What are the problems faced by Google in Taiwan

Google built a data center on the island nation back in 2013 and wanted it to work thanks to solar power plants. To carry out the plan did not work, because in Taiwan at the legislative level it is forbidden to buy “green” energy directly from the manufacturer. This is a common problem in many countries.

How the company will use solar energy to operate the data center

For 5 years, Google lobbied for changes to Taiwan’s laws. In 2018, the government made concessions and cleared the way for the company to implement the environmental project.

However, the Americans faced another problem. On the island there was no place to build a large enough solar power plant that would give the necessary amount of energy. As a result, Google has agreed with the owners of fishing ponds in Tainan. They will provide artificial reservoirs for the use of the company to install special panels over them. Also, entrepreneurs will receive compensation from Google under the agreement on the purchase of electricity. After the examination, environmentalists assured that the work of the panels does not harm the fish.

Thus, Google will build in Taiwan custom solar power 40 thousand panels, able to produce the desired 10 MW. This facility will be the first renewable energy project of IT-Corporation in Asia. Recall that in addition to the data center in Taiwan, Google has the same data center in the US, South America and Europe. All of them work on renewable energy sources. Google is also negotiating the purchase of wind power from three power plants in Finland to provide it to the data center in Hamina