There is a strange and uneasy tension standing at the base of a wind turbine, amid a power generation farm full of dozens more. The air can seem still even though you can clearly see, and hear, the turbines moving. Indeed, the sound never dies down, although you’re standing in precisely the space where you would most expect it to. With all these rotating blades the size of softball fields, it indeed feels and sounds like a place you’d expect to find something called “the edge.”
There’s no methodology for any of the world’s power grids to distinguish renewable power, such as wind-generated, from coal-based or hydroelectric power. So when a data center customer purchases wind power, usually it’s in the form of certificates issued directly by the renewable energy company. The data center owner then “retires” those certificates when it utilizes the kilowatt-hours it does purchase, a few of which may have actually been the wind-generated power from the issuing company.
Read more at ZDNet.
