Google invests in Taiwanese solar company to boost green energy use

Google is investing in a Taiwanese solar company that plans to build a 1 gigawatt (GW) sustainable energy pipeline in the region. The company is placing a stake in New Green Power (NGP), part of BlackRock’s investment portfolio, for the project. The move could help Google and Taiwan move closer to their climate goals while stabilizing green energy production in one of the most important semiconductor hubs in our new AI-infused world.

Google already has a significant presence in Taiwan, including a data center. Fossil fuels currently generate nearly 85 percent of Taiwan’s power grid, according to Amanda Peterson Corio, Google’s global head of data center energy. “To help overcome these obstacles, companies can play a key role in finding new strategies to increase the supply of affordable renewable energy sources and promoting new technologies that enable the full decarbonization of the region’s power systems,” she wrote.

Google expects to use up to 300 megawatts of solar power to power its data centers in Taiwan. Additionally, Peterson Corio said the company “may offer some of its clean energy production capacity to (its) suppliers and semiconductor manufacturers in the region,” it said, helping partners meet green energy goals and reducing indirect (Scope 3) emissions from Google’s supply chain partners.

“Much of our Scope 3 carbon footprint comes from the energy networks that power our suppliers and users, so broad-based decarbonization — and partnerships like this — continue to underpin our net-zero goal,” Peterson Corio wrote.

Regulators have not yet approved the deal. Google did not disclose how much it is investing in NGP.