Microsoft commitment will add 37 megawatts of clean energy to
Irish grid.
DUBLIN, Oct. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On
Monday, Microsoft Corp. announced a new wind energy agreement in
Ireland. With the agreement,
Microsoft will become one of the first multinational technology
companies to support a new wind project in Ireland.
Microsoft is entering into a 15-year power purchase agreement
(PPA) with GE to purchase 100 percent of the wind energy from its
new, 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland. The agreement will help
support the growing demand for Microsoft Cloud services from
Ireland. As part of the deal,
Microsoft also signed an agreement with Dublin-based energy trading company
ElectroRoute; it will provide energy trading services to
Microsoft.
In addition to producing energy, the project will produce
valuable data on energy storage. Each turbine will have an
integrated battery; Microsoft and GE will test how these batteries
can be used to capture and store excess energy, and then provide it
back to the grid as needed. This provides more predictable power to
an increasingly green Irish grid, by smoothing out peaks and
valleys in wind production. This will better enable intermittent
clean power sources like wind energy to be added to the Irish grid.
This will be the first deployment of battery integration into wind
turbines to store energy in Europe.
"Microsoft is proud to be deepening our long history of
investment and partnership in Ireland with this agreement," said Christian
Belady, general manager, Datacenter Strategy at Microsoft. "Our
commitment will help bring new, clean energy to the Irish grid, and
contains innovative elements that have the potential to grow the
capacity, reliability and capability of the grid. This will make it
easier to incorporate new clean power sources like wind energy, and
that is good for the environment, for Ireland and for our company."
This PPA builds on Microsoft's strategic partnership with GE,
announced last year. The wind farm will integrate GE's Digital Wind
Farm technology, which makes renewable energy outputs even more
reliable. Digital models, built on the Predix platform, ensure
energy generation supplied can meet demand forecasted and reduce
intermittency concerns.
Andres Isaza, chief commercial
officer of GE Renewable Energy, said, "This partnership with
Microsoft expands GE's considerable presence and investment in
Ireland, where we already employ
over 1,500 people and in particular in the renewable energy sector.
Wind is now one of the most competitive sources of electricity on
the market today, and we're excited about the capability to use
data generated from these wind turbines, using the Predix platform,
to maximize the output and value of this project."
Microsoft is also acquiring an Irish energy supply license from
GE. The supply license will benefit both Microsoft and the Irish
power grid, as it allows the company the flexibility to easily grow
and invest in renewable energy in Ireland over time. ElectroRoute will act as
trading service provider for the supply company.
"ElectroRoute is delighted to work with Microsoft and GE to
structure and manage the energy trading activities for the supply
company," said Ronan Doherty, chief
executive at ElectroRoute. "The wind energy sector is
particularly vibrant in Ireland at
the moment, and we are seeing the emergence of an array of new
structures and procurement approaches, which I feel will persist
and grow into the future."
This agreement continues Microsoft's history of supporting
sustainability projects in Ireland, including a new forestry initiative
announced earlier this year and investments in energy efficiency
measures and technologies that have greatly reduced its energy and
water footprint.
Once operational, the new wind project will bring Microsoft's
total global direct procurement in renewable energy projects to
almost 600 megawatts. In 2016, Microsoft set clean energy
commitments to power its datacenters and bring new renewable energy
sources online in the communities in which it operates.
About ElectroRoute
ElectroRoute, majority owned by Mitsubishi Corporation, is an
innovative energy trading and services company headquartered in
Dublin, Ireland. ElectroRoute
trades energy on a 24/7 basis across nine European countries. It
also provides managed trading services to energy assets, giving
them ready access to pan-European markets and currently has over
700 megawatts of assets under management.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is the world's Digital Industrial Company,
transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions
that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized
around a global exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store," through
which each business shares and accesses the same technology,
markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels
innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With
people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes
for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) is the leading platform and
productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and
its mission is to empower every person and every organization on
the planet to achieve more.
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