Microsoft’s New Irish Wind Energy Agreement
The national body charged with helping Ireland to transition to a low-carbon economy has welcomed a new agreement by Microsoft to become one of the first multinational technology companies to support a new wind project in Ireland. Microsoft Corp. has announced 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.
Sustainable Nation Ireland, which is tasked by the Government in the IFS 2020 Strategy to grow Ireland as a hub for sustainable investment and business, welcomed the deal.
CEO Stephen Nolan says the organisation is working with Microsoft and other stakeholders to contribute to a more sustainable, increasingly green grid in Ireland. He adds: “This announcement highlights our world-class capability to ensure world-leaders like Microsoft can run operations that are powered by clean energy, which meets a key Microsoft strategic imperative. With only a few weeks out to the next round of international climate talks – COP23, this new agreement underpins Ireland’s emergence as a global leader in sustainable business and investment.”
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 will be the first deployment of battery integration into wind turbines to store energy in Europe.
