Iron Mountain Data Centers has announced that it has signed an agreement to power its data centres using a renewable energy supply sourced from a new wind farm in Ringer Hill, Pennsylvania.
The 15-year wind power purchasing agreement will see the storage and IT management company use 25 MW of the wind farm’s capacity, providing power for data centres across three U.S. states.
The firm argued that the shift to wind power has helped to reduce operating costs and its impact on the environment. Iron Mountain also noted that the project is also delivering long-term utility price stability, as well as a carbon-neutral solution for its data centre customers.
‘One of the first challenges of our sustainable energy strategy is finding ways to beat the conventional wisdom that growing our business means bigger environmental impacts,’ explained Kevin Hagen, director of corporate responsibility at Iron Mountain. ‘Our renewable energy initiatives are a great example of adopting innovative ways to serve customers with better, financially attractive solutions that can reduce our climate and environmental impacts at the same time.’
Iron Mountain provides wholesale and retail colocation solutions for a range of customers, including cloud services providers, government agencies, systems integrators, financial services and healthcare companies.
The firm’s data centre portfolio includes a 200-acre underground facility near Pittsburgh, which uses geothermal cooling to optimise PUE.
‘As our data center business grows, we’re always looking at how best to address power considering it’s the largest operational cost and environmental concern,’ commented Mark Kidd, senior vice president and general manager at Iron Mountain Data Centers. ‘Locking in a long-term, reliable and renewable energy supply ensures price stability and cost control, delivering savings back to both Iron Mountain and our customers.’
Iron Mountain’s renewables strategy, which also incorporates solar projects, hopes to offset two-thirds of its North American electricity needs by 2018. Its commitment to green energy makes the company one of the top 25 buyers of renewables in the FORTUNE 1000.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Apr 4, 2017 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT / 10pm BST / 11pm CEST