Google to buy more wind from NextEra

MAYES COUNTY, OKLAHOMA - A NextEra Energy Inc unit will sell 100.8 megawatts MW of wind energy to Google Inc's energy subsidiary, the companies' second such agreement that would help the Internet search giant power its data centers using renewable sources of energy.

As part of plans to reduce its carbon footprint, Google has been buying renewable electricity to power its data centers. Its strategy is to select a clean power project that is on the same grid as one of its centers.

Last year, the company's energy unit, Google Energy, signed a deal to buy wind power from NextEra for the next 20 years.

Google Energy, which has a 114 MW deal with NextEra, will now purchase power from NextEra Energy Resources' Minco II Wind Energy Center in Oklahoma. The electricity from their prior deal will be used at Google's Council Bluffs, Iowa center.

According to its website, Google plans to use the power from the latest agreement at its Mayes County, Oklahoma center, which is expected to be fully operational by the end of this year and could employ about 100 people.

NextEra expects the Minco project to be operational by the end of 2011.

Google has already partnered with units of Japan's Sumitomo Corp and Itochu Corp for a stake in General Electric's under-construction wind farm in Oregon for $500 million.

NextEra is one of the largest wind power producers in North America, running more than 9,500 wind turbines at 85 farms in 17 U.S. states and in Canada. Its wind farms can power more than 2 million average homes.