US data centre operator Digital Realty has signed a power and renewable energy credit agreement with Citi to supply its sites in Texas with wind electricity.
The deal with the bank will provide nearly a third of Digital Realty’s power needs in the Greater Dallas area with 55% of the output from the 162MW Bearkat 2 wind farm in Glasscock County.
Renewable energy from the Texas project is expected to be available to customers beginning in June 2021.
Digital Realty chief executive William Stein said: “The data centre industry underpins the growth of the digital economy, and we believe it is critical for industry participants to recognise the importance of managing the environmental impact of their digital infrastructure.
“We’re dedicated to supporting our customers with sustainable, highly resilient facilities that leverage renewable energy and other energy-efficient technologies.”
Citi renewable transactions managing director Roxana Popovici said: “As more companies like Digital Realty invest in renewable energy, we’ve committed to supporting them in their environmental endeavours as part of our efforts to accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy.
“This agreement represents an important step in powering Texas data centres with renewable energy and we’re excited to be supporting the effort.”
In 2019 Digital Realty inked an agreement for 50MW of renewable capacity to support its data centres in Ashburn in Virginia and signed a green tariff agreement with Portland General Electric that will supply 120,000 megawatt-hours a year to its new development in Hillsboro, Oregon.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is the developer of Bearkat 2 with TriGlobal Energy, which will use 47 Vestas V126-3.45MW turbines.