Google is opening of its data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, having selected Shell Energy Europe as its energy manager in the UK, in a new agreement where Shell will manage a power portfolio for Google that addresses the intermittency of clean energy generation through access to battery energy storage systems (BESS).

Shell will optimise Google's existing clean energy portfolio, including the off-take from its long-term agreement with ENGIE from the Moray West project in Scotland, storing surplus energy when production is high and releasing stored power back to the grid when production is low. Between the Shell alliance and Google's other clean energy initiatives, Google's UK operations are projected to run at or near 95 per cent carbon-free-energy in 2026.

The Waltham Cross data centre is also designed to minimise its environmental impact. The facility uses advanced air-cooling technology to limit water usage to domestic use and is also equipped to support off-site heat recovery, meaning heat from the data centre can be re-routed and provided free of charge to help warm local homes, schools or businesses.

In the longer term, Google is pursuing a climate ‘moonshot’ to reach net-zero emissions across all of its operations and value chain, which includes running on 24/7 carbon free energy (CFE) on every grid where it operates.

---