Will support the repowering of the Leaning Juniper IIB project
Google has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Avangrid, the US subsidiary of Iberdrola, for more than 100MW from an onshore wind project in Gilliam County, Oregon.
The power from the Leaning Juniper IIB project will be supplied to Google’s data center portfolio in the region. The PPA will facilitate an upgrade to the project, which has been operational since 2010, extending its lifespan and capacity to 119MW. The repowering project is expected to cost up to €170 million ($200m) and employ 150 people.
The project currently comprises 74 wind turbines, with a peak generating capacity of 111MW. The upgrade will add a further 8MW to the project's capacity and will include increasing the blade tip height of the turbines from 389 to 422 feet, which involves the installation of a new underground 34.5kV collector line system.
The exact capacity contracted in the PPA and its duration were not disclosed
The power will be supplied to the Northern Wasco County Township Utility District, which will subsequently supply power to Google’s data centers in The Dalles, Wasco County, Oregon.
Google currently operates two data center campuses in The Dalles, comprising four buildings. The company first broke ground in the city back in 2006, and in June of this year, it was reported that the company was set to upgrade its initial data center, having acquired a permit for demolition work the month prior. The demolition would remove exterior infrastructure and interior finishes belonging to “Data Hall DLS 83” whilst keeping the core structure of the data hall and the utility plant.
The facility was already expanded back in 2015, and further tax concessions for two new buildings were granted in 2021. Two more facilities are set to be added in the city, with construction beginning last September.
The data centers caused controversy in the city due to their apparent massive water usage. In 2021, the city sued to prevent local publication The Oregonian from accessing data about the facility’s water use. The lawsuit was eventually dropped, showing that its facilities in the city used more than a quarter of its water supply.
Google has signed several PPAs so far this year. In March, it signed a 35MW agreement with Exus Renewables in Spain. It also signed its first PPA with a nuclear fusion company, inking a 200MW agreement with Commonwealth Fusion Systems to support the commercialization of its nuclear fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
