An Equinix-backed onshore wind farm has been successfully commissioned in the Vienne region of France.

German renewable energy developer wpd commissioned the Brandes Communales wind farm in Château-Garnier on July 4. The wind farm has a capacity of 12.6MW and is comprised of three wind turbines. According to wpd, it can produce 34,000MWh of electricity on an annual basis.

“Renewable energies are not only essential for carbon neutrality but also essential for our energy and industrial independence. Take the example of artificial intelligence and data centers. Their growth is very rapid. They will require very large quantities of electricity. At wpd, we want to support this transition by producing the electricity they will need,” said Grégoire Simon, president of wpd France

The wind farm is tied to a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between wpd and Equinix, which was signed last year. The deal covered seven wind farms across France, totaling around 100MW of capacity. At the time of signing, it was one of the largest of its kind in the country. The project is the first of the seven to reach commercial operations.

The guarantees of origin generated by the project will be allocated to the 11 data center sites operated by Equinix in France.

Régis Castagné, managing director of Equinix France, said: “The inauguration of the Château-Garnier wind farm is the first concrete achievement of a strategic agreement for Equinix and the pursuit of our environmental ambitions. This first site and the next six other projects will contribute to injecting renewable energy into the French grid and reducing the environmental impact of the sector.”

Equinix has a robust presence in the French market, operating ten data centers in the Paris region. In February, the company officially launched its PA13x facility in the Meudon area of Île-de-France. The facility offers 28.8MW of IT capacity and was built on a redeveloped brownfield site.

In the past 12 months, it has signed several PPAs across Europe. In November, it inked a ten-year PPA with Neon for 53MW of energy from seven solar projects across northern Italy.