Google to hit 100 percent renewable power in 2017

Google has long pursued a goal of running its global network of offices and data centers on nothing but renewable power.

On Tuesday, Google will announce plans to buy enough wind and solar power in 2017 to cover all the electricity the company will use, worldwide, over the course of the year.

With offices and data centers in nearly 60 countries, Google operates in some regions where commercial renewable power remains scarce.

[...] in places where solar plants and wind farms are plentiful, such as Texas and Oklahoma, Google will buy more renewable power than it needs, to make up the slack.

A study released Tuesday by Advanced Energy Economy, a clean-energy business association, found that 71 percent of Fortune 100 companies have set their own targets to use more renewable power, improve sustainability or both.

Companies as different as Walmart, Apple and General Motors have announced plans to one day get 100 percent of their electricity from renewable sources.

In some locations, long-term renewable power purchase contracts are now cheaper than electricity from fossil fuels.

“It becomes a lot more compelling if there isn’t a price premium attached,” said Malcolm Woolf, senior vice president of policy at Advanced Energy Economy.

The vast majority of Google’s renewable power — about 95 percent — comes from wind farms, including the Golden Hills facility owned by NextEra Energy Resources in the Altamont Pass.

Google has also become a major investor in renewable power facilities, sinking nearly $2.5 billion into wind and solar projects in the United States, Europe and Africa.