Digital Realty Reaches New Wind Energy Agreement to Power Texas Data Centers

Digital Realty, a leading global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, announced a new 7.5-year power and renewable energy credit agreement with Citi to supply clean, renewable energy for Digital Realty’s portfolio of data centers in the Dallas, Texas region.  This contract will advance Digital Realty’s environmental and sustainability goals by supplying approximately 30% of the company’s power needs in this market.

The transaction provides Digital Realty with over 260,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy annually, which represents 55% of the wind generation project output being developed by Bearkat Wind Energy II, LLC.  The energy provided through the 162-megawatt project in Glasscock County will serve a portion of the power needs of Digital Realty’s 13 data centers in the Greater Dallas, Texas region.

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“The data center industry underpins the growth of the digital economy, and we believe it is critical for industry participants to recognize the importance of managing the environmental impact of their digital infrastructure,” said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein.  “We’re dedicated to supporting our customers with sustainable, highly resilient facilities that leverage renewable energy and other energy-efficient technologies.  We’re proud to be partnering with Citi, a proven leader in sustainable financing, to bring clean, renewable energy to our customers and we look forward to furthering our sustainability strategies with customers across the region and around the world.”

The wind power agreement represents another significant step Digital Realty has taken to extend sustainability initiatives across its global portfolio.  In early April, Digital Realty was named a 2020 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its efforts to protect the environment through energy efficiency achievements across its data center portfolio.  In 2019, Digital Realty certified an industry-leading 29 data centers under the ENERGY STAR program.

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“As more companies like Digital Realty invest in renewable energy, we’ve committed to supporting them in their environmental endeavors as part of our efforts to accelerate the global transition to a low-carbon economy,” said Roxana Popovici, a Managing Director responsible for renewable power transactions at Citi.  “This agreement represents an important step in powering Texas data centers with renewable energy and we’re excited to be supporting the effort.”

The new wind power agreement builds upon Digital Realty’s long-term renewable energy strategy.  In 2019, the company announced an additional 50 megawatts of renewables to support its data centers in Ashburn, Virginia and signed a green tariff agreement with Portland General Electric which will supply approximately 120,000 megawatt-hours annually to its new development project in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Digital Realty is employing several renewable energy strategies to increase the portion of renewable energy available to power its data centers and locking in advantageous energy pricing for the benefit of its customers.  The renewable energy from the Texas project is expected to be available to customers beginning in June 2021.

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