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The answer is blowing in the wind

Wind farm outside Kiruna, Northern Sweden.

LULEÅ: Your next Google search could very well be powered from Maevaara wind farm in northern Sweden. Google’s new data-center in Finland has signed a ten-year purchase deal.

Location

Google, the world’s by far largest search engine, has huge data centers around the globe. While Facebook has chosen Luleå in Sweden for its giant data-center, Google has decided to locate their new data center in Europe to Finland.

It is Google’s policy to use renewable energy. The new Swedish wind farm just cross the border from Finnish Lapland is perfect. Google’s ten-years purchase deal has helped the builder of the wind farm, O2, to secure 100 percent financing for the construction of the wind farm from the investment arm of German insurance company Allianz, which will assume ownership when the wind farm becomes operational in early 2015.

The wind farm O2 is building will have 72MW capactiy and the windmills will be located in the area between Pajala and Övertorneå in Norrbotten County. Each mill will be 3MW.

This arrangement is possible because of Scandinavia’s integrated electricity market and grid system, Nord Pool. It enables Google to buy the wind farm’s output in Sweden with Guarantee of Origin certification and consume an equivalent amount of power at the data center in Finland. 

In its Green policy, Google says they are striving to power the company with 100% renewable energy. 

“In addition to the environmental benefits, we see renewable energy as a business opportunity and continue to invest in accelerating its development. We believe that by powering the web with renewable energy, we’re creating a better future for everyone,” the Google portal reads.