Equinix has announced their first Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in the Asia-Pacific region, a foundational step towards the expansion of renewable energy supply in historically challenging markets. The PPA, signed with TagEnergy, will secure the purchase of 151 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, anticipated to be operative by 2029, from the Golden Plains Wind Farm East project.

Equinix has been a trendsetter in the adoption and execution of PPAs in the U.S. and Europe over the past decade, facilitating the generation of an estimated 1 gigawatt of clean energy across major markets. This new Australian PPA marks a significant advancement in the quest for renewable energy in areas where the demand and opportunity for decarbonisation are substantial, such as Australia, India and Southeast Asia.

Kevin Hagen, Interim CEO of the Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA), highlighted the importance of these initiatives. "Data centre operators and other large corporate energy customers, like Equinix, have accelerated the clean energy transition by executing PPAs and other contracts that create long-term financial stability for developers of wind, solar and other clean energy resources. These clean energy projects have changed the electricity market in the U.S. and Europe. Now high-impact projects like this are helping to lead the effort to drive local demand and shift markets in regions where there is even more opportunity for decarbonisation."

PPAs are financial contracts that enable renewable energy projects like wind and solar farms to supply local energy grids. Such contracts usually entail a long-term agreement between electricity consumers and renewable generators, fixed at a certain price. Hence, solar and wind farm generators receive a guaranteed price over the agreement's life, offering a financial certainty that aids the construction and running of renewable energy projects.

Christopher Wellise, Vice President of Sustainability at Equinix, confirmed the company’s commitment to renewable initiatives. He stated, "To date, Equinix has executed 21 PPAs globally resulting in 3,000,000 MWh of renewable energy and as we expand our global data centre footprint, we will continue to assess opportunities for greening the grids that we move into. Once this expansion of the Golden Plains Wind Farm East project is completed in 2029, our impact through all 21 PPAs is expected to amount to more than one gigawatt of renewable energy added to local grids. In combination with other sustainability efforts, this is expected to bring Equinix to 100% renewable coverage across all of our operations globally."

Equinix was the pioneer in the data centre industry to pledge itself towards becoming climate neutral, aligning itself with a science-based near-term target for emissions reduction across its global operations and supply chain by 2030. It is also a founding signatory of the EU Climate Neutral Data Centre Operator Pact, which aims to steer sustainability measures for the EU data centre industry to become climate neutral by 2030. Since its PPA program's initiation in 2015, Equinix has signed two wind PPAs in Texas and Oklahoma for 225 MW, three PPAs in Finland for a total of 144 MW, and 15 new wind and solar PPAs throughout Europe such as Sweden, Spain, Portugal and France, accounting for more than 500 MW.

Equinix's robust sustainability measures across Scope 1-3 support its clients' Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reporting and compliance objectives, further underlining its commitment to environmental responsibility.