MidAmerican supplying wind to Google data center

MidAmerican Energy Co. will supply Google Inc.'s Council Bluffs data center with up to 407 megawatts of wind-sourced energy, the utility announced Tuesday.

The wind power will come from several projects that are part of its initiative to bring 1,050 megawatts of new Iowa wind power online by the end of 2015. The company is investing $1.9 billion to build 656 wind turbines.

This agreement fully supplies the first phase of Google's facilities in Council Bluffs with 100 percent renewable wind energy.

Additional phases of the data center will be supplied with wind-sourced energy as the company grows in Iowa.

Google has been working with MidAmerican to add more renewable resources since 2007 when it constructed the data center.

The agreement represents Google's sixth and largest renewable energy purchase to date, bringing the total amount of renewable energy Google has contracted for to more than one gigawatt (1,000 megawatts).