Taiwan Google Deal

By Sean McHardy

Google has become the first to purchase under the 2017 Taiwan electricity act, which allows non-utility companies to buy renewable energy. Google purchased the outputs of a 10-Megawatt solar array in Taiwan where they will install poles with solar panels on top and placed overfishing ponds.

Previously, only utility companies could purchase renewable energy. Google had been pushing the Taiwanese government to alter their energy laws so they could buy renewable energy from the source, prompting a legislative change in 2017, which allowed non-utility companies to purchase renewable energy.

Google has been interested in renewable energy for many years now; since 2010, Google has signed more than 30 solar and wind projects across America and Europe, making it the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy and eight years ago the company announced plans to build a wind energy project in the Atlantic Ocean, running from New York to Virginia.

The company has moved ahead with its first water-based renewable energy project in Tainan City, marking its entry into the Asian renewable energy market. The idea of building solar panels above water is something that has become more popular recently, especially in Asia due to population density and competition for land. Still, Google’s project may differ from many other water-based solar projects.

Many of these projects involve the solar panels laying directly on the water, but Google is currently focusing on panels that would be hoisted above the fishing ponds. According to an experiment by the Fisheries Research Institute this design could result in better fishing yields as it provides the fish with optimum room and also provides shade, although they have not made a final decision on how they will layout the solar panels.

Taiwan holds high hopes and expectations with solar power with the Taiwanese prime minister Su Tseng-chang announcing that the government expects around 3.7GW of new solar generation capacity in the next two years. This will be delivered under a two-year solar PV promotion plan which follows on from the 2017-2018 plan.

The government expects benefits of $7.2 billion in investment and business opportunities from the two-year solar promotional plan, said the prime minister.

Google first started working in Taiwan in 2013 when they opened their first Asian data centres in Taiwan, it is now home to around 200 staff and, today, is one of the largest data centres in Asia. The company expects to open new offices in late 2020.

In 2019, a commission under Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs approved investment by Google worth $851 million to expand data operations on the island. This allowed Google to go ahead with plans to build a second hyperscale facility in Tainan city. To offset the environmental costs of the data centres, Google, signed a deal to buy the output of the 10MW solar array where they will place the poles.

This purchase is smaller than the power that will is expected to be used by Google’s data centre but will give the company a more realistic price for their electricity long-term and also reduce the carbon emissions in Taiwan.

Google is clearly invested; seeing renewable energy as something that will be important to the company’s growth. At the tail end of 2019, Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai, unveiled ambitious plans for the biggest renewable energy deal in corporate history which would include 18 separate agreements to supply Google with electricity from both solar and wind projects from across the world.

Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, Pichai said that the deal will “spur the construction of more than $2bn in new energy infrastructure” and will include millions of solar panels and hundreds of wind turbines across multiple continents, adding; “We’re not buying power from existing wind and solar farms, but instead are making long-term purchase commitments that result in the development of new projects.”

The reasons for these investments are clear. Investments in renewable energy make “business sense” for them, said Mike Terrell, Head of Energy Market Development at Google. This is primarily down to the dramatic decrease in the amount it costs to generate solar power – dropping from several hundred dollars per megawatt an hour to just 25 dollars over the past decade.

This deal underscores Taiwan’s developing role as an innovative economy and a new global renewables leader. Already a major player in Solar Panel production, the country has gained a reputation for creative thinking, diligent research and development-focused approach to developing Energy Industry solutions. The world’s second-largest photovoltaic producer and the second-largest LED producer; Taiwan, once known as Garbage Island, now a growing economy and home to a thriving corporate market place with a high return on investments – and slowly, but surely, the world is catching on.

For More: Read Our Magzine