I recently read a story on Google purchasing the entire output of a 240MW wind farm in Texas. While Google will not directly consume the power generated by the turbines, the electricity generated by the new wind farm will be sold into the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) market, the same grid system serving Googles Mayes County, OK data center. Then, Google can retire the generated Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) against the company's carbon footprint.
source: DOE Green Power Network email
This is a perfect little example of how policy, be it public policy or company policy, drives investment in renewable energy projects. When a developer can achieve some level of 'certainty' of ROI, projects like this new wind farm in Texas get built.
Oh, and, if you would like to know more about RECs, why don't you google it? I'll write about them another time.
blondee
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