Global Switch signs RWE wind PPA for AI data centre

Global Switch has signed an eight-year power purchase agreement with RWE for wind-generated electricity for its London Docklands data centre.

The agreement covers output from RWE's Brechfa Forest West onshore wind farm in south-west Wales. Global Switch said the renewable electricity will supply its London site.

RWE will supply around 70 GWh of electricity per year under the deal. The supply starts in January 2026 and runs until 2033.

Wind supply

Brechfa Forest West entered service in 2018. The wind farm has 28 turbines and a generation capacity of 57.4 megawatts, according to the companies.

RWE described itself as the UK's largest power generator. It also said it operates a global renewables business. Global Switch described itself as an owner, operator and developer of data centres in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Ulf Kerstin, Chief Commercial Officer, RWE Supply & Trading, linked the deal to rising electricity consumption across digital services. "In view of the ongoing digitalisation and the increasing use of artificial intelligence in almost all areas of life, the number of data centres and their energy requirements are growing. Some data centre operators are already relying on the use of low-carbon electricity from RWE, and we are delighted to have gained Global Switch as another partner," said Kerstin.

London campus

Global Switch said the PPA forms part of a wider target of purchasing 100% renewable energy by 2030.

"Our agreement with RWE is a critical next step on our journey to purchasing 100% renewable energy by 2030, and to the setting of new standards for what a sustainable, environmentally-conscious data centre can look like. It's an agreement that brings together the forests of Wales and the most powerful, most advanced AI and high performance compute deployments in the world," said Peter Domeney, Chief Operating Officer, Global Switch.

Global Switch's London Docklands data centre sits in the capital's business district. The company said the site has access to 224 Mega Volt Ampere of secured power.

Global Switch also said it is running a programme of densification and expansion at the London data centre. The company framed that work against higher power demand from AI-focused compute.

Global Switch said the site was selected by CoreWeave to host a large deployment of Nvidia H100 and H200 graphics processing units. It also said the site hosted a liquid cooling showcase. The company described this as a presentation of liquid cooling technologies, including systems not previously deployed in Europe.

Efficiency targets

Global Switch said it is targeting annualised power usage effectiveness of 1.2 across its European sites.

The company also said its emissions reduction targets were approved by the Science Based Targets initiative in 2025. It said its sites were inducted into the voluntary European Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency in Data Centres initiative.

PPAs have become a common route for large electricity users to secure long-term supply from renewable generators. Data centre operators have increasingly used such agreements as electricity demand rises and grid constraints shape expansion plans.

RWE pipeline

RWE said it is investing billions of euros in expanding its generation portfolio. It highlighted offshore wind, onshore wind, solar and battery storage.

The company said its energy trading business complements its generation portfolio. It also said its mix of renewables, battery storage and flexible generation positions it for rising electricity demand linked to AI and electrification.

RWE Supply & Trading said it operates as an interface between the group and energy markets. It said more than 2,000 employees trade electricity, gas, commodities and CO2 emission allowances, and manage optimisation and dispatch of RWE power plants.

Global Switch said its data centres are located in city-centre locations across Europe and Asia-Pacific and operate on a carrier and cloud neutral basis.