Google has invested in Taiwan’s New Green Power, a solar energy company owned by BlackRock. Google plans to buy up to 300 megawatts of renewable energy from this firm to help reduce carbon emissions for itself and its suppliers.
Companies are under pressure to cut greenhouse gas emissions from their operations and supply chains. Big tech companies like Google have set ambitious goals for reducing emissions. Google aims to run entirely on carbon-free energy everywhere it operates. However, the growing demand for data processing, especially for artificial intelligence, has led to an increase in emissions.
In Taiwan, where Google has a data center and offices, 85% of the power still comes from fossil fuels, according to Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s Global Head of Data Center Energy. She told Reuters that this investment aims to support the development of large-scale solar projects in Taiwan. Decarbonizing regions like Asia Pacific is challenging due to less developed infrastructure and restrictions on corporate green power purchases.
New Green Power is one of the leading solar developers in Taiwan and is owned by a fund managed by BlackRock’s Climate Infrastructure business. Google and BlackRock did not disclose the size of Google’s stake in NGP, but Corio said the investment would help finance NGP’s 1 gigawatt (GW) solar project pipeline.
Taiwan aims to reach 20 GW of solar capacity by 2025 and up to 80 GW by 2050, according to BlackRock.
Corio added that Google would use some of the solar power for its own operations and share some with its suppliers and manufacturers in the region. This sharing would help Google reduce its Scope 3 emissions, which are the emissions linked to its supply chain.
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