STRONG DEMAND:The company has committed to buying more than 2.2 gigawatts of renewable energy, making it the world’s largest non-utility green energy purchaser

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 25, 2016
By: Kuo Chia-erh / Staff reporter

Google hopes to purchase renewable energy in Taiwan for its data center in Changhua County, a company official said yesterday at the New Energy Leadership Forum in Taipei.

“Google has two data centers in Asia, one in Singapore and one in Taiwan. We have not purchased any renewable energy in Taiwan so far,” said Marsden Hanna, Google’s head for global energy policy and markets.

Hanna said the company’s long-term goal is for each of its data centers, including the one in Taiwan, to be 100 percent powered by renewable energy.

Google initially planned to purchase renewable energy from state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), which has a monopoly in the nation’s electricity market. However, the company turned its back on Taipower, saying the energy provided by the utility is not “green” enough to satisfy its requirements.     [FULL  STORY]