UK data center developer Virtus has signed a corporate Power Purchase Agreement (cPPA) for 31MW of wind power from the Lynn and Inner Dowsing (LID) windfarms, a pair of offshore wind farms in the North Sea.

As part of the cPPA, Virtus will offtake 16 percent of the total generation from LID, with a commencement date of 1 October 2025.

The LID wind farms were commissioned back in 2009 and have a maximum output of 194MW generated by 54 Siemens Wind Power 3.6-107 turbines. The project is situated 5km off the east coast of England, near the town of Skegness in Lincolnshire.

“As an energy-intensive user, we know it’s our responsibility to minimize the environmental impact from all our data center facilities. Hence, since going live with our first site in 2011, we have been procuring power from 100 percent renewable sources. We are committed to delivering reliable, resilient, and responsible digital infrastructure to our customers and operate the gold standard in sustainable data centers in the UK and Europe,” said Helen Kinsman, SVP commercial and regulatory affairs at Virtus.

The wind farms are owned by Macquarie Asset Management, which has held a majority stake in the venture since 2016. Macquarie became the asset’s sole owner last year after acquiring the remaining 39.25 percent stake in the project from BlackRock. The wind farms are operated by XceCo, a UK asset management company specializing in the full project life cycle of renewable energy ventures.

Bailey Bradley, managing director and co-founder XceCo, said of the deal: “The successful delivery of this cPPA for one of our offshore wind farm assets under management stands as a testament to the exceptional collaboration between XceCo and all stakeholders involved in delivering this transaction.”

The cPPA was facilitated by Inspired, a commercial energy and sustainability advisory firm, which acted as Virtus’s “dedicated energy consultant.”

cPPA’s are direct contracts between a corporate buyer and a renewable energy generator. PPAs, on the other hand, are typically between a generator and a utility or energy supplier, who then sells the power on to end-users

Virtus is one of the UK’s most prominent data center developers. It is jointly owned by STT GDC and Macquarie Asset Management.

The company operates primarily in the London market, with 11 data centers in operation across four campuses in Greater London totaling 77,000 sqm (828,825 sq ft) and 178MW of power.

Last February, reports surfaced that the company was planning a new 75MW campus in Saunderton, Buckinghamshire. It is also developing sites in Germany.