Google announces 'milestone' deal to purchase Taiwan geothermal energy

Taipei, April 15 (CNA) Google said Tuesday it had signed a geothermal power purchase agreement with Baseload Power Taiwan to support clean energy development -- its first such deal in the Asia-Pacific region.

Initial projects under the deal will "add 10 megawatts (MW) of 'always on' power to the grid and help catalyze Taiwan's geothermal market," according to a post on Google's official blog.

Google said Taiwan's access to "substantial geothermal resources" could complement other renewable sources such as solar and wind, noting the "significant potential" for using underground heat to generate clean electricity.

"This long-term partnership with Baseload Capital, which includes an equity investment in the company, represents our latest step to accelerate the deployment of geothermal as a 24/7 clean energy technology across Asia Pacific and globally," Google said.

The multinational American tech company added that the partnership was an "important milestone in Google's clean energy journey."

According to statistics from the Energy Administration, Taiwan has an installed capacity of 7 MW of geothermal energy production as of February 2024 -- a small fraction of the country's energy output.

Baseload Power Taiwan, a subsidiary of Sweden-based Baseload Capital, broke ground on its first power plant project in Hualien in 2020 and is "still in the drilling phase," according to its website.

Baseload Power Taiwan's website also hints that four other power plant projects are "ongoing."

"Our goal is to bring energy resilience and business opportunities to local communities while contributing to Taiwan's net-zero targets and the objective of 6 GW of geothermal installed capacity by 2050," according to the website.