Russian Yandex Signs 5-year Wind PPA with Finnish Ilmatar Energy

Yandex, a Russian internet company, has signed a 5-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for wind energy with Finnish renewable energy company Ilmatar Energy.

Under the contract, Yandex will source renewable electricity from wind farms operated by Ilmatar to cover 100% of the energy needs for the company’s Mäntsälä data center in Finland. Delivery of renewable electricity to Yandex will begin on January 1, 2022.

According to the company, this agreement advances Yandex’s commitment to reduce its carbon footprint, as described in its inaugural Sustainability Report. Yandex reported that 52% of its carbon footprint was associated with electricity consumption (Scope 2), 90% of which was attributed to data centers (DCs). To reinforce climate change mitigation, Yandex is enhancing energy efficiency measures with the ‘greening’ of its energy mix.

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Designed to meet the most rigorous energy efficiency standards, Yandex’s newest data centers, including Mäntsälä, have been achieving a power usage effectiveness  of 1.1, which represents overhead energy use that is 6 times more efficient than the global average. In addition, the Mäntsälä DC has been employing a server heat recovery solution to raise the temperature of the water pumped into local heating systems, which contributes to the reduction of GHG emissions associated with the use of electricity for heating water.

Coupled with high energy efficiency, the purchase of wind energy for the Mäntsälä DC is expected to result in emissions reductions. Thanks to the PPA with Ilmatar, close to 20% of the total electricity consumption by Yandex data centers globally is expected to be matched with the procurement of clean energy from regional sources.

Headquartered in Helsinki, Ilmatar Energy sells renewable energy for both businesses and consumers. The company targets to increase Finnish wind power generation capacity by 1GW by 2027.

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In April this year, French renewable company Neoen announced the finalisation of its financing Mutkalampi, a 404 MW wind farm in Central and Northern Ostrobothnia in western Finland. Fully owned by Neoen, the project will be the country’s largest wind farm.