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DPO signs power purchase agreement for green Texas data centres
Sat, 6th Jan 2024

Digital Power Optimization (DPO), known for developing and operating green data centres, has confirmed the execution of a power purchase agreement with a primary multinational provider of renewable energy.

The undisclosed seller has substantial renewable power resources, such as several 150MW+ wind farms situated in Texas. Relying on this fresh PPA, the DPO and the seller wish to achieve data centre deployments with a total capacity of 100MW spread across up to six of the seller's Texas wind assets.

Notably, in a departure from the practice of conventional computing facilities to acquire clean power via virtual power purchase agreements, DPO's data centres intend to consume power directly from renewable wind generation facilities, harnessing it behind the meter.

DPO has secured funding for the first phase of construction in the initial project location. The commencement of data centre operations is expected in 2024. In the following 12-18 months, operations at the remaining sites are scheduled to be initiated.

Andrew Webber, the CEO of DPO, expressed his contentment with the completion of the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and the official initiation of the project. He emphasised the satisfaction of successfully conducting a pilot on-site for the power producer over the past 18 months, leading to the establishment of a strong partnership.

Webber highlighted the collaborative effort between DPO and the power producer in developing a customised and innovative PPA structure. This structure not only ensures a zero-cost economic benefit for the seller but also contributes to the creation of environmentally friendly and sustainable computing facilities. 

Andrew Webber said, "We are extremely pleased to have this PPA finalised, and the project is now officially underway. We have been running a pilot on-site for this power producer for over 18 months now and have developed an outstanding partnership with them."

"Together, we crafted a custom and innovative PPA structure which creates zero-cost economic upside for the Seller while bringing to life some of the cleanest and most sustainable computing facilities on Earth for DPO's investors and data centre tenants."

Ever since 2020, DPO has been collaborating closely with power producers to utilise power-dense computing functions, like Proof-of-Work network security and AI training, as more profitable physical off-takes for undervalued power.

DPO has the unique distinction of being the only company globally to have developed and managed data centre projects behind the meter on wind, solar, hydro, natural gas plants, and grid-connected facilities.

Emerging as a significant player in the landscape of green data centres catering to power-dense computing, DPO works in tandem with utilities and independent power producers to situate its data centre facilities on-site at power generation plants. This strategic location allows DPO to directly utilise renewable energy to run high-performance computing/artificial intelligence and Proof-of-Work computing operations. A privately held entity, DPO is steadily contributing towards innovative, clean, and sustainable data centre solutions.