Google to power Finnish data centre with wind energy

Google said Tuesday it had entered a ten-year deal with a Swedish wind farm developer to power a data centre in Finland.

The US search giant said it would buy the entire electricity output of a new wind farm to be operated by Swedish firm O2 in Maevaara in the north of Sweden, to cover the energy needs of its data centre in Hamina, south Finland.

No financial details were provided.

Google said it expected to reduce its electricity bill by an amount "depending on the evolution of the market," according to Francois Sterin, a senior manager at the company's infrastructure team.

The 24 wind turbines, with a total capacity of 72 megawatts, would become operational in 2015, and construction on the project would begin "in the coming months", the company said.

The wind power plant will be owned by German insurer Allianz, which is funding the project.

Google already claims to be a carbon neutral company, and has bought into several renewable energy projects around the world, most recently in May when it made a $12 million investment in a South African solar energy project.