As part of ongoing efforts to lower the carbon footprint of its business, HP (NYSE: HPQ) today announced that it has signed a 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for 112 megawatts (MW) of wind power with SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE), the world’s largest renewable energy development company.
The 112 MW of locally generated wind electricity is sufficient to power 100 percent of HP’s Texas-based data center operations, the equivalent of powering 42,600 homes each year, and will avoid the emission of more than 340,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.
The agreement will allow HP to reach its 2020 operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal by the end of FY15, five years ahead of schedule. That goal originally aimed to reduce total GHG emissions from its operations (Scope 1 and Scope 2) by 20 percent of 2010 levels by 2020.
The approximately 1.5 million square feet of Texas data center operations support HP’s entire internal global information technology (IT) requirements and the delivery of IT services to a portion of HP customers. HP currently operates five data centers in Texas, located in Houston, Hockley, Plano, and two in Austin.
“This agreement represents the latest step we are taking on HP’s journey to reduce our carbon footprint across our entire value chain, while creating a stronger, more resilient company and a sustainable world,” said Gabi Zedlmayer, vice president and chief progress officer, Corporate Affairs, HP. “It’s an important milestone in driving HP Living Progress as we work to create a better future for everyone through our actions and innovations.”
This is the first utility-scale renewable energy purchase by HP, and illustrates the company’s holistic approach to developing a sustainable cloud. That approach includes innovating breakthrough energy-optimized technology such as HP Moonshot servers, deploying the world’s most efficient data centers such as the EcoPod240a, and advancing the quantity of renewable power supply available to the grid.
SunEdison wind project to support data center operations
HP’s commitment to purchase this power has enabled SunEdison to begin construction on the South Plains II wind farm in Texas, which when completed will generate 300 MW of power. The wind farm is expected to create more than 400 local construction jobs and up to 15 permanent jobs once the project is completed. Additionally, the project will provide a range of significant local economic benefits, including land lease payments and property tax revenues.
“Wind generated electricity represents a good business opportunity for Texas and for HP,” said Paul Gaynor, executive vice president, Americas and EMEA, SunEdison. “By powering their data centers with renewable energy, HP is taking an important step toward a clean energy future while lowering their operating costs. At the same time, HP’s commitment allows us to build this project which creates valuable local jobs and ensures Texan electricity customers get cost-effective energy.”
The wind farm is on the Call Right Project List for TerraForm Power, a global owner and operator of clean energy power plants. TerraForm Power intends to acquire this asset once operational in 2016. Operation and maintenance of the wind power plant will be performed by SunEdison Services, which provides global 24/7 asset management, monitoring, and reporting services.
Both HP and SunEdison are among the founding members of the Business Renewables Center, a non-profit organization created last year to facilitate large-scale corporate purchases of renewable energy.
SunEdison is the world’s largest renewable energy development company and is transforming the way energy is generated, distributed, and owned around the globe. The company develops, finances, installs, owns and operates renewable power plants, delivering predictably priced electricity to its residential, commercial, government and utility customers. SunEdison is one of the world’s largest renewable energy asset managers and provides customers with asset management, operations and maintenance, monitoring and reporting services. Corporate headquarters are in the United States with additional offices and technology manufacturing around the world. SunEdison’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “SUNE.”
