New Solar Contracts Come as Digital Realty is
Recognized by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department
of Energy for Green Energy Leadership
AUSTIN,
Texas, May 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital
Realty (NYSE: DLR), the largest global provider of cloud- and
carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection
solutions, today announced that it is contracting for 158 megawatts
(MW) of new solar power in California and Georgia.
The move advances Digital Realty's progress toward 100%
renewable electricity and its 1.5 degree C-aligned Science Based
Targets initiative (SBTi) – a global standard for reduction
greenhouse gas emissions.
"These efforts are part of our strategy to reduce our carbon
footprint," said Digital Realty CEO A.
William Stein. "We are demonstrating that the data center
industry is a key part of the transition to a digital economy that
is powered by clean energy."
The contracts include a 12-year agreement to support the
development of a new 130 MW utility-scale solar project in
Kern County, California. The
project, developed by Terra-Gen as part of its Edwards Sanborn
Solar Storage energy project, is one of the largest
solar-plus-storage projects in the world and is expected to be
completed in late-2022.
Additionally, Digital Realty is subscribing to Georgia Power's
Customer Renewable Supply Procurement program. The company will
receive 28 MW of new solar supply to support its Atlanta data center portfolio. The energy will
be generated by new solar facilities located in Georgia. The program is expected to begin
delivering power and renewable energy certificates to Digital
Realty in 2024.
In 2020, Digital Realty set aggressive science-based carbon
emissions targets with the SBTi, becoming the first global data
center organization of its size and scale to do so. Digital Realty
has committed to reducing its Scope 1 and 2 emissions (direct and
indirect emissions) by 68 percent and Scope 3 emissions (indirect
emissions in its value chain) by 24 percent by 2030.
The contract announcements come on the heels of a pair of honors
for Digital Realty from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and Department of Energy (DOE).
For the third consecutive year, Digital Realty received the EPA
ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award this month, earning
Sustained Excellence recognition. The award comes as part of
Digital Realty's continued commitment to measuring and improving
the energy efficiency of its data centers and pursuing ENERGY STAR
certifications for eligible sites.
Digital Realty certified 34 data centers under the 2021 ENERGY
STAR Certification Program, totaling 9 million square feet and 765
MW of IT capacity. This covers 65% of Digital Realty's U.S. owned
and managed portfolio and represents a 15% increase in MW-IT
capacity certified from the prior year. Compared to
industry-average data centers, Digital Realty's ENERGY
STAR-certified facilities reduce emissions by 408,000 metric tons
of CO2 per year and save 943,000 MW of energy, enough to power
approximately 79,000 average U.S. homes.
Digital Realty was also recently ranked No. 9 on the EPA's list
of green power users on its Top 30 Tech & Telecom List and No.
21 among companies overall on the National Top 100 List as part of
the Green Power Partnership.
Digital Realty uses nearly 1.1 billion kilowatt-hours of green
power annually in the U.S. alone, under the EPA's Green Power
Partnership criteria. This is equivalent to the annual electricity
use of more than 99,000 average American homes.
Additional Resources
- CEO Blog: Digital Realty's global commitment to reducing its
carbon footprint
- Read press release: Interxion targets carbon neutral
certification in France by year
end
- Read press release: Digital Realty publishes third annual ESG
Report
- Read press release: Digital Realty reaches new wind and solar
energy agreements to power Texas
data centers in 2020 and Interxion France targets carbon neutral
certification by year-end 2020
About Digital Realty
Digital Realty supports the world's leading enterprises and
service providers by delivering the full spectrum of data center,
colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL®, the
company's global data center platform, provides customers a trusted
foundation and proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx™)
solution methodology for scaling digital business and efficiently
managing Data Gravity challenges. Digital Realty's global data
center footprint gives customers access to the connected
communities that matter to them with 290+ facilities in 50 metros
across 26 countries on six continents. For more information, please
visit digitalrealty.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
About ENERGY STAR
ENERGY STAR® is the government-backed symbol for energy
efficiency, providing simple, credible, and unbiased information
that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed
decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state, and
local organizations—including nearly 40% of the Fortune
500®—partner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions that protect the
climate while improving air quality and protecting public health.
Since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners have helped American
families and businesses save 5 trillion kilowatt-hours of
electricity, avoid more than $500
billion in energy costs, and achieve 4 billion metric tons
of greenhouse gas reductions. Over the lifetime of the program,
every dollar EPA has spent on ENERGY STAR resulted in nearly
$350 in energy cost savings for
American business and households. In 2020 alone, ENERGY STAR and
its partners helped Americans save more than 520 billion
kilowatt-hours of electricity and avoid $42
billion in energy costs. More background information about
ENERGY STAR can be found at energystar.gov.
About Environmental Protection
Agency's Green Power Partnership
The Green Power Partnership is a voluntary program that helps
increase green power use among U.S. organizations to advance the
American market for green power and development of those sources to
reduce air pollution and other environmental impacts associated
with electricity use. In 2020, the Partnership had more than 700
Partners voluntarily using nearly 70 billion kilowatt-hours of
green power annually. Partners include a wide variety of leading
organizations such as Fortune 500® companies; small and medium
sized businesses; local, state, and federal governments; and
colleges and universities. For additional information, please visit
www.epa.gov/greenpower.
For Additional
Information
Media Contacts
Helen
Bleasdale
Digital Realty
+1 (737) 267-6822
hcbleasdale@digitalrealty.com
Investor Relations
Jordan
Sadler/ Jim Huseby
Digital Realty
+1 415 848 9311
investorrelations@digitalrealty.com
Forward-Looking Statement/ Safe
Harbour Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are
based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes
and results to differ materially, including statements related to
our sustainability goals, certifications and strategy and potential
impact from sustainability initiatives and our sustainability
program and achievements. For a list and description of such risks
and uncertainties, see the reports and filings by the company with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company disclaims
any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
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SOURCE Digital Realty