Google has signed its first power purchase agreements (PPAs) in Japan.
First reported by Nikkei Asia and later confirmed by the company, Google has signed solar PPAs totaling 60MW with Clean Energy Connect and Shizen Energy.
The company’s deal with Clean Energy Connect (CEC), a partner of Itochu Corporation, involves constructing a network of around 800 small-scale solar plants totaling 40MW across multiple grid regions in Japan.
“This novel, distributed approach is a creative solution to the challenge of limited land availability for large-scale solar projects in the country,” Google said.
CEC has developed and owns 1,200 non-FIT low-voltage solar power plants with a capacity of over 100MW across Japan. The solar plans for Google will be gradually launched from 2024 through to 2026, and mainly go towards off-setting the company’s data center in Inzai City, Chiba prefecture.
The PPA with Shizen Energy, a renewable energy company, focuses on the development of a 20MW utility-scale solar project on the same power grid as the company’s data center in Inzai, which opened last year.
Shizen and its partner Bison Energy Inc. are developing the project on a former golf course. Construction of the new solar power plant is expected to begin in 2026 and be completed in 2027.
Oliver Senter, executive officer of Shizen Energy responsible for investment and finance said: “We are delighted to announce this PPA with Google which adds to our growing portfolio of corporate PPAs in Japan. In this project we worked closely with our partner Bison Energy, reflecting our strategy to act as a hub connecting customer decarbonization needs with a deep pool of projects, developed by both Shizen and its partners.”
Google said it has committed to investing nearly $690 million into sustainable infrastructure in Japan. Though it only has one self-built data center in Inzai, Google operates cloud regions in Tokyo and Osaka, opened in 2016 and 2019 respectively.
“Signing these PPAs is just the beginning of our decarbonization journey in Japan,” Shinji Okuyama VP, Google Japan, said in a blog. “We aim to continue our efforts in the region by collaborating with local partners and exploring even more innovative solutions to accelerate the country's clean energy transition.”
CEC has previously signed PPAs with Amazon and NTT, while Shizen has signed a 25MW PPA with Microsoft.
2024 has so far seen Google sign Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Poland, and Arizona. The company has also announced investments into carbon capture and put out an RFP for innovative energy generation technologies.
24/7 PPAs ensure that any clean energy paid for is matched by metered electricity used by a large consumer; Google is moving to 24/7 PPAs.
