Cleaner Compute: Akamai Adds 128 MW of Renewable Energy to the Grid
Published: (February 26, 2026 at 08:00 AM EST)
6 min read
Source: Linode Blog
Source: Linode Blog
# Blog
## Sustainability
### Cleaner Compute: Akakai Adds 128 MW of Renewable Energy to the Grid
*Margot Hines is responsible for the renewable‑energy strategy for the Corporate Sustainability Team at Akamai. She currently leads the Global Energy Management program, which is focused on driving efficiencies in Akamai’s data‑center deployments and investing in new wind and solar projects around the globe. Prior to joining the Sustainability team, she was part of Akamai’s Infrastructure team, which focused on data‑center power capacity planning and forecasting.*
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The internet doesn’t run on magic; it runs on electricity. Behind every seamless video stream, every secure banking transaction, and every line of code deployed at the edge, there is a physical cost measured in kilowatt‑hours. As the digital world accelerates — driven by AI, streaming, and global connectivity — the demand for compute power is skyrocketing.
At Akamai, we sit at the intersection of this demand and the planet’s finite resources. As [Akamai Cloud](https://www.akamai.com/cloud) expands to meet the world’s need for distributed computing, we face a critical reality: we must **decouple our digital growth from our carbon footprint**. We cannot simply consume more power; we must actively generate clean power.
We refuse to let the expansion of the edge come at the expense of the climate.
Today, we are backing that commitment with action. We are sharing a significant operational milestone: **Akamai has secured approximately 128 MW of new renewable‑energy capacity across the United States and the European Union**.
These aren’t just paper agreements or unbundled certificates. They are physical infrastructure projects — steel, glass, and wire — that are actively cleaning the grids that power our lives and our customers’ businesses.
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## The strategy: Impact over volume
To understand the significance of these projects, you have to look past the megawatt count and understand our philosophy. At Akamai, we don’t just buy “green energy” certificates to check a compliance box. We prioritize **[emissionality](https://watttime.org/news-and-insights/could-emissionality-be-the-next-big-thing-to-disrupt-corporate-sustainability-and-renewable-energy-procurement/)**.
This concept reshapes how we measure success. Simply put, not all renewable energy is created equal. Bringing a new solar farm online in a region that is already 90 % clean (like parts of the Nordic countries) has a relatively low carbon return. Conversely, bringing that exact same solar farm online in a grid heavily dependent on coal or natural gas delivers a massive environmental ROI.
We actively target these carbon‑intensive grids for our “purchaser‑caused” projects. We prefer to build where the air needs clearing. By directing our capital to these specific markets, we displace fossil fuels directly and maximize the amount of carbon avoided for every megawatt‑hour (MWh) we generate. We don’t just go where the sun shines; we go where the grid needs us most.
Below is how that strategy is translating into real‑world power today.
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## United States: Cleaning up the grid in Illinois
The United States is the bedrock of our global operations and a primary driver of our edge‑compute growth. As we expand our capacity to serve North‑American enterprises, we are simultaneously working to decarbonize the grids that support them. We believe that digital leadership requires environmental stewardship.
We are proud to confirm that the **Prairie Solar Project** in Champaign County, Illinois, is officially online and running at full capacity.
- **Location:** Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) North grid
- **Capacity:** 45 MW share
- **Annual generation:** ~77,000 MWh
- **Carbon impact:** Displacing ~48,000 metric tonnes of CO₂e annually
This is what emissionality looks like in practice: replacing high‑carbon electrons with low‑carbon ones where it matters most.
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## European Union: Powering a cleaner European edge
The European Union is a cornerstone of the digital economy and a rapidly growing region for Akamai Cloud. As enterprises across the continent move workloads to the edge to improve performance and meet data‑sovereignty requirements, our footprint is expanding to meet them.
However, we refuse to grow our carbon emissions alongside our server count. We are matching this compute scaling with a deliberate investment in local, sustainable infrastructure that supports the EU’s own ambitious climate goals.
We are announcing two major projects in the European Union that leverage the continent’s mature renewable market and robust grid infrastructure:
1. **Akamai EU Solar Project 1** – online now
2. **Akamai EU Solar Project 2** – coming July 2026
### Akamai EU Solar Project 1 (online now)
- **Capacity:** 50 MW
- **Annual generation:** ~58,000 MWh
- **Carbon impact:** Displacing ~45,000 metric tonnes of CO₂e annually
### Akamai EU Solar Project 2 (coming July 2026)
- **Capacity:** 33 MW (construction on schedule)
- **Annual generation (projected):** ~36,000 MWh
- **Carbon impact (projected):** Displacing ~28,000 metric tonnes of CO₂e annually
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*Together, these projects represent a concrete step toward a cleaner, more sustainable internet—one megawatt at a time.*# c tonnes of CO₂e annually
## The “So what?” for our customers
Sustainability is a shared responsibility. When Akamai lowers our carbon footprint, we lower yours, too.
For our enterprise customers, these projects translate directly into [Scope 3](https://www.akamai.com/blog/sustainability/what-akamai-is-doing-for-customer-reporting) emissions reductions. By running your applications and security workloads on Akamai Cloud, you are using a platform that is actively decarbonizing its energy supply chain.
Furthermore, these long‑term commitments do more than just clean our own operations — they enable new infrastructure for everyone. By signing multi‑year [virtual power purchase agreements (vPPAs)](https://www.akamai.com/blog/sustainability/navigating-next-chapter-corporate-renewable-energy), we provide the revenue certainty that developers need to secure financing and break ground.
We aren't just consuming renewable energy; we are actively helping to build the capacity that the global grid desperately needs.
## The road to 2030
These projects bring us closer to our goal of a [100 % renewably powered Akamai](https://www.akamaisustainability.com/indicators/100_renewable/program_approach/multi_program_approach_100_renewable) and [net‑zero emissions](https://www.akamaisustainability.com/indicators/net_zero_emissions/) by 2030. But net zero is an operational roadmap, not a marketing slogan.
We know that “efficiency” is just the starting line. True sustainability requires adding new clean capacity to the global grid. It requires transparency, accurate data, and a commitment to doing the hard work of infrastructure development.
A faster, more secure internet must also be a cleaner one. Today, we are **128 MW** closer to that reality.
## Learn more
[Visit us](https://www.akamai.com/company/corporate-responsibility/sustainability) for more information on Akamai’s sustainability initiatives and our path to 2030.
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**Feb 26, 2026** – [Margot Hines](https://www.akamai.com/blog?author=margot-hines)
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**Margot Hines** is responsible for the renewable energy strategy for the Corporate Sustainability Team at Akamai. She currently leads the Global Energy Management program, which is focused on driving efficiencies in Akamai’s data‑center deployments and investing in new wind and solar projects around the globe. Prior to joining the Sustainability team, she was part of Akamai’s Infrastructure team, which focused on data‑center power capacity planning and forecasting.
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