Dive Brief:
- Google has signed a power purchase agreement with German energy company Energie Baden-Württemberg, which will provide the tech giant with 100 megawatts of clean electricity from its offshore wind farm He Dreiht. The deal seeks to decarbonize Google’s operations in the country.
- Google will receive clean energy generated at He Dreiht — which translates to “it spins” — over a 15-year period, according to a Thursday press release. He Dreiht is currently under construction and will have a total installed capacity of 960 MW once operational. It is positioned to be Germany’s largest offshore wind farm and one of Europe’s largest energy transition projects once operational, according to EnBW.
- Google said in the release that the deal supports its goal to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030. The tech company said that such clean power generation is “essential to underpin digital infrastructure and support growth in data-driven technologies including artificial intelligence.”
Dive Insight:
Though Google has invested in a slate of sustainable solutions and initiatives to cut its emissions and meet its climate goals, the tech conglomerate’s emissions continue to rise, partly due to the increased adoption of AI.
Despite decreasing its data center emissions 12% year-over-year in 2024, Google said in its latest sustainability report that its emissions have increased 51% from a 2019 baseline.
Data centers consume increasing amounts of power, especially as companies in the tech sector continue to turn to AI. U.S. data center power demand could reach 106 gigawatts in 2035, according to a recent report from BloombergNEF. BNEF’s latest forecast is 36% higher than its April 2025 estimate released — a jump it attributed in part to the higher average size of the 150 significant U.S. data center projects announced in 2024. Over a quarter of those announced projects are larger than 500 MW.
Adam Elman, Google’s Sustainability Director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said in a LinkedIn post that the agreement with EnBW is a “massive step” toward the company’s 2030 sustainability goal and will also help accelerate Europe’s green transition.
“Meeting the demand for AI infrastructure requires direct investment in the energy systems that make this technology possible,” Elman said in the Feb. 5 release. "By contracting for new wind power from EnBW, we are bringing more clean energy online in Germany to power our operations, while accelerating the broader transition to a more sustainable electricity grid.”
