Duke Energy will develop a 61-megawatt solar project in Rutherford County in Carolina, with Google committing to buy power from the project
Under a power-purchase agreement with the Rutherford Farms solar project, Duke Energy will secure power to meet new energy demand from Google’s expanded data center. “Google was a driver behind Duke Energy seeking approval for the Green Source Rider,” said Rob Caldwell, senior vice president, Distributed Energy Resources. “Having Google as the first company to publicly announce its participation is extremely satisfying. We believe this will lead to similar announcements in the future.”
Enrollment in the Green Source Rider means Google will use renewable energy sources for a portion of the energy supplied to its expanded data center in the city of Lenoir. Under the program, Duke Energy and Google agreed on the specific project and additional costs associated with energy from the facility. Other Duke Energy customers will not pay for the project.
“We’ve agreed to purchase 1.2 gigawatts of renewable power globally and we’re working to power 100 percent of our operations with renewables. As we pursue that goal, this is a really big moment for us and we’re thrilled to have created this program with Duke Energy,” said Gary Demasi, Google’s head of Data Center Energy and Location Strategy. “Not only does it enable us to purchase renewable energy for our North Carolina operations, it will empower others in the state to do the same.”