Network storage company NetApp used $1.4 million in Pacific Gas & Electric incentives to green its data center and campus. By April, the Sunnyvale, Calif., company (formerly Network Appliance) will have completed 16 incentive programs through PG&E, according to the company.
"They're definitely the poster child," said Bramfitt of PG&E. "I've never seen anything so pristine."
Bramfitt estimated that PG&E could spend close to $14 million this year on high-tech, corporate efficiency incentives.
Since 2006, a PG&E program has offered cash to IT companies seeking to reduce their data centers' demands on the grid. Electricity providers in Seattle and British Columbia aim in the coming months to launch programs to help businesses afford energy efficiency overhauls. Similar offers remain rare in North America, which some utilities representatives at last week's summit said they hope to change.
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