Equinix signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for 105 megawatts (MWAC) of new solar power with SunEdison — enough energy to offset the consumption of its 11 data centers and headquarters in California.
SunEdison will build a new solar farm near Calexico, California, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The project is expected to come online in the second half of 2016. The Mount Signal Solar II project is expected to generate 300,000 MWh per year to offset Equinix’s electrical consumption.
Equinix said this power purchase agreement will effectively reduce its carbon footprint by over 180 million lbs of CO2 annually – the equivalent of taking 18,000 passenger cars off of U.S. roads each year. Equinix will also receive Green-e certified renewable energy certificates from SunEdison to bridge the approximately 12 months from contract execution to project completion.
Equinix Commits to 100% Clean and Renewal Data Center Energy
Equinix committed to a long-term goal to use 100% clean and renewable energy to power its global platform, which now includes data centers in over 33 markets on five continents. Equinix aims to deliver carbon-neutral data center and interconnection services.
In 2014, Equinix consumed over 2,200 gigawatt hours of energy across its global data center platform.
In a blog posting, David Rinard is Senior Director of Global Sustainability & Procurement at Equinix, describes the company’s newly adopted set of Renewable Energy Principles.
