Microsoft announced a series of new renewable energy contracts for more than 900MW of onshore wind and solar power in Ireland.

According to the company, in addition to helping Microsoft meet its own sustainability commitments, the large-scale deals will contribute nearly 30% of Ireland’s goal to have 15% of electricity demand delivered from renewable energy corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs) by 2030.

In a joint statement with Microsoft, Ireland’s Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, said:

“Today’s announcement by Microsoft is very welcome news and will help to ensure that the company’s data centres play a more positive role in bringing new green power to the electricity grid and driving Ireland’s renewable energy transition.”

The company said that its multi-year CPPA’s with partners Statkfraft, Energia Group and Power Capital Renewable Energy will help increase efforts to add clean energy capacity to Ireland’s electricity grid.

Microsoft’s new contracts include multi-year CPPAs with Statkraft, Energia Group, and Power Capital Renewable Energy for the development of onshore wind and solar energy projects across Ireland.

Last year, Microsoft unveiled a series of new targets to ramp the company’s use of clean energy, including the company’s “100/100/0” vision to have 100% of its electricity consumption, 100% percent of the time, matched by purchases from zero carbon energy sources , adding to the company’s prior commitment to use 100% renewable energy in its buildings and datacenters globally by 2025. 

Microsoft said that its forecasts indicate that it will cover 100% of its data center electricity load by 2025 with renewable energy.

Noelle Walsh, Corporate Vice President, Cloud Operations and Innovation, Microsoft said:

“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.

“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.”

The post New Microsoft Wind and Solar Deals to Contribute Nearly 30% of Ireland’s Renewable Energy Target appeared first on ESG Today.