One of the world’s most popular online payments systems, PayPal, is now sourcing some of its electricity requirements from a solar farm in Arizona.
The 40MW Red Rock Solar Plant in Arizona was unveiled to the public last week. Owned and operated by Arizona Public Service (APS), Arizona State University (ASU) and PayPal will purchase all the energy generated by the facility.
Red Rock is APS’s largest grid-scale solar power plant project to date.
“The cooperation between APS, ASU and PayPal demonstrates how the Arizona business community is committed to developing solar energy in a smart, cost-effective manner,” said Daniel Froetscher, APS Senior Vice President of Transmission, Distribution and Customers.
APS stated the arrangement will help PayPal keep up with its energy demand, while also supporting its aim of reducing its carbon footprint and being a community leader in driving energy sustainability.
PayPal has 188 million registered buyers worldwide; with 6 million of those from Australia. 110,000 Australian businesses also use PayPal’s merchant services.
Greening the energy supply of online services is becoming a more pressing issue. The energy footprint of the IT sector accounted for 7% of global electricity in 2012, and could pass 12% by 2017.
For ASU, the Red Rock agreement has helped the University build on its already substantial solar energy sourcing. ASU has almost 25 megawatts of on-campus solar installations and expects approximately 30 percent of its electricity requirements be met with solar energy this calendar year.
APS reached one gigawatt capacity of solar power projects in its portfolio last year, an achievement it says makes it the only utility outside California to achieve the milestone.
As well as solar energy, APS’s renewables portfolio includes biogas, biomass, geothermal and wind power.
APS also has a stake in three coal fired electricity generation plants, owns and operates two natural gas facilities and has a 29.1% share in the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.
APS serves approximately 2.7 million people in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties.
Trivia : One of PayPal’s founders was Elon Musk, who went on to start Tesla; manufacturer of the Tesla Powerwall battery system.
