INTELLIGENT POWER AND COOLING

New collaboration combines VAST Data software , Supermicro hardware and NVIDIA technologies to simplify deployment of hyperscale AI infrastructure .

The announcement signals a broader industry goal of bringing additional clean power to a region where conditions have traditionally been more challenging for executing renewable energy projects .

“ Data centre operators and other large corporate energy customers , like Equinix , have accelerated the clean energy transition by executing PPAs and other contracts that create long-term financial stability for developers of wind , solar and other clean energy resources ,” said Kevin Hagen , Interim CEO of the Clean Energy Buyers Association ( CEBA ).

“ These clean energy projects have changed the electricity market in the US and Europe . Now high-impact projects like this are helping to lead the effort to drive local demand and shift markets in regions where there is even more opportunity for decarbonisation such as Australia , India and South East Asia ,” added Hagen .

The new PPA in Australia is with TagEnergy and includes the purchase of 151MW of renewable energy that is expected to come online at the provider ’ s Golden Plains Wind Farm – East project in 2029 . The agreement is Equinix ’ s first long-term renewable energy agreement in the APAC region .

PPAs are financial contracts that bring to market renewable energy projects , such as wind and solar farms , which increase access to clean energy in local energy grids . They are typically contracts whereby consumers of electricity , such as Equinix , agree to purchase from a renewable generator at a fixed price over the duration of a multi-year contract . With a guaranteed price paid to wind and solar farm generators over the life of the agreement , PPAs can provide financial certainty to facilitate the construction and operations of renewable energy projects .

“ To date , Equinix has executed 21 PPAs globally resulting in 3,000,000MWh of renewable energy and as we expand our global data centre footprint , we will continue to assess opportunities for greening the grids that we move into ,” said Christopher Wellise , Vice President , Sustainability , Equinix .

“ Once this expansion of the Golden Plains Wind Farm – East project is completed in 2029 , our impact through all 21 PPAs is expected to amount to more than one gigawatt of renewable energy added to local grids . In combination with other sustainability efforts , this is expected to bring Equinix to 100 % renewable coverage across all of our operations globally ,” Wellise added .

Highlights and key facts :

• Equinix was the first in the data centre industry to commit to becoming climate neutral , aligned to an approved nearterm science-based target , for emissions reduction across its global operations and supply chain by 2030 . It is also a founding signatory of the EU Climate Neutral Data Centre Operator Pact , which is leading advocacy and steering the development of sustainability requirements for the EU data centre industry to become climate neutral by 2030 .

• Equinix began its PPA programme in 2015 , signing two wind PPAs in Texas and Oklahoma for 225MW . In late 2021 and early 2022 , Equinix signed three PPAs in Finland for a total of 144MW of new-build wind capacity projects , and in 2023 , added 15 new wind and solar PPAs in Europe , including in Sweden , Spain , Portugal and France in excess of 500MW .

• Equinix ’ s sustainability initiatives across Scope 1 – 3 support its customers ’ GHG reporting and compliance goals . �

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