US independent power producer (IPP) Silicon Ranch has signed an agreement with data centre developer Tract to coordinate the location and timing of renewable generation as part of data centre development process.
Under the agreement, Silicon Ranch initiates site acquisition and interconnection processes for owned and operated utility-scale solar and battery projects with a capacity of over 500MW to support the development of data centres in Nevada and Utah.
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Silicon Ranch said that matching the scale of data centre demand and renewables projects in the development process can improve “certainty and stability” for the entire system.
“We recognise data centres’ needs are evolving and this collaboration with Tract enables us to create a solution that combines shovel-ready development sites with access to pre-positioned renewables generation,” said Reagan Farr, co-founder and CEO of Silicon Ranch.
Currently, Silicon Ranch boasts more than 2.5GW of capacity under contract with the data centre sector.
Tech companies have been sourcing clean electricity to power their operations as reported by PV Tech. For example, US developer and operator Adapture Renewables signed three agreements with technology company Meta to sell 330MW of power from three solar projects in the US states of Illinois and Arkansas.
Meta also signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with US utility Salt River Project (SRP) and Danish energy company Ørsted to acquire electricity from the latter’s Eleven Mile Solar Center in the US state of Arizona.
Ørsted also signed a 15-year PPA to supply 80MW of solar PV power in the US to media company Bloomberg. Currently under construction, the 471MW Mockingbird Solar Centre, located near Paris, Texas, will supply the power for the PPA. Ørsted said the project is the largest solar project in its portfolio in the US.