Microsoft says its data centres in Ireland will be supported by 100% renewable energy by 2025
Microsoft has announced new renewable energy contracts, which will see the company contribute close to 30% of Ireland’s corporate power purchase agreement target by 2030.
The company has entered into multi-year Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs) with Statkraft, Energia Group, and Power Capital Renewable Energy, related to the development of more than 900 megawatts of onshore wind and solar energy projects across Ireland.
The new power purchase agreements will help support efforts to add additional clean energy capacity to the electricity grid. The government’s Climate Action Plan includes a target of 15% of electricity demand to be delivered from renewable energy CPPAs by 2030. This equates to approximately 6 terawatt hours of additional electricity generation.
Microsoft’s procurement will contribute 28% of that target before the end of the decade. The company is seeking to make a material contribution to accelerating the country’s journey to a net-zero future.
In line with the company’s global sustainability goal, Microsoft forecasts that it will cover 100% of its data centre electricity load by 2025 with renewable energy.
“We’re proud to be partnering with leading energy providers to bring this additional renewable energy on stream and help industry and government and the broader energy sector to achieve its climate action ambitions,” said ,” said Noelle Walsh, corporate vice president, cloud operations and innovation, Microsoft.
“This announcement builds on our efforts to make our data centres more sustainable and foster new innovations to support the growth of renewables on the energy grid here in Ireland. As we continue to support the growing demand for Cloud across public and private sectors, Microsoft is committed to partnering with all stakeholders to help Ireland on its grid decarbonisation journey while unlocking the opportunities of a digital economy and society.”
Ian Thom, CEO, Energia Group said: “As an Irish energy company with a proven history of delivering new renewable energy projects and for providing innovative solutions for our customers, today’s announcement with Microsoft highlights the benefit of collaboration in bringing about collective benefit for society, enterprise, and the economy.
“Energia Group has set clear targets to promote Ireland’s energy transition and to facilitate the achievement of the government’s 2030 targets that will be realised through a pipeline of almost 3,000 MW of new renewable projects across a range of technologies, including offshore wind, onshore wind and solar. This agreement represents another step towards the achievement of these targets.”
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