Microsoft has signed a new agreement with energy firm AES to power its data centers in Virginia with renewable energy.
The deal will see Microsoft use the ‘around-the-clock’ renewable energy provided through this agreement to power its data centers located in Virginia.
The structure of the agreement utilizes both existing renewable projects under a long-term contract to Microsoft, while also adding additional renewable resources in the region.
AES will source the energy from a portfolio of 576MW of contracted renewable assets, including wind, solar, as well as battery energy storage projects in the PJM interconnection (an electric transmission system serving a number of states around the mid-Atlantic US).
"By leveraging AES' capability and presence in the PJM market, we are able to both secure additional renewable supply in support of meeting our commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy by 2025, and also take a meaningful step toward having 100 percent of our electricity matched by zero-carbon resources all of the time in the region," said Brian Janous, General Manager Energy & Renewables at Microsoft. "We believe innovative commercial structures like this with AES and integrating new technologies will be key as we continue to move toward our 100/100/0 commitment."
Microsoft’s 100/100/0 commitment that that 100 percent of its energy use is from entirely renewable sources, 100 percent of the time, matched by zero carbon energy purchases, by 2030.
"Microsoft is a leader in the energy transition with its commitment to being 100 percent powered by zero-carbon electricity by 2030. We're proud of the solution we co-created with Microsoft to help meet that commitment with the delivery of 24/7 zero-carbon electricity to its Virginia-based data centers," added Andrés Gluski, AES President and CEO. "Working together with leading corporations, we are setting new standards for decarbonizing their operations and the grid."
Over the last 12 months, Microsoft said it has signed new purchase agreements for approximately 5.8GW of renewable energy across 10 countries across more than over 35 individual deals. The company has signed deals totaling 7.8GW globally.
In July the firm announced it signed a 250MW solar energy PPA with Volt Energy. The company has also signed a PPA with Ørsted to buy solar power from a 430MW solar farm in Texas.
