Northern Sweden winds will power Google

Investment firm Aquila Capital confirms that it has acquired the 148 MW capacity Lehtirova wind power project in northern Sweden and that most of the power will be sold at a fixed price to a subsidiary of Google.

Development of the Lehtirova park started this month. It is located in area between the two north Swedish municipalities of Gällivare and Pajala. The 41 turbines will have an annual production of up to 500 GWh, project developer OX2 says.

The wind project is to be ready for production in 2018.

“Google has been carbon-neutral since 2007 and we are committed to powering 100 percent of our operations with renewable energy sources. Today’s announcement is Google’s seventh European wind power deal to date and reinforces our position as the world’s largest corporate renewable buyer,” Francois Sterin, Director of Global Infrastructure at Google, says in the press release announcing the deal.

The company has been represented in northern Sweden since 2007 when it acquired Marratech,  video conferencing software developer located in Luleå.

The new wind power project will be one of the biggest in the Nordic region, Affärer i Nord reports.