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Microsoft wants 2.5 gigawatts of solar power

by on26 January 2023


Teams up with South Korea's Hanwha Qcells

Software King of the World, Microsoft said it would add as much as 2.5 gigawatts of solar power to its operations under a partnership with South Korea's Hanwha Qcells.

Vole churns up a lot of electricity with more than 200 offices and 60 cloud regions.  Some cloud regions have 50MW or 60MW of capacity.

Now Microsoft wants to cut back on its bill to engineer, procure, and construct solar power installations using power purchase agreements. PPAs are a mechanism for companies and institutions to fund renewable or clean energy production within a region. Under these PPAs, customers agree to buy the power generated by these facilities or installations at a set price over the course of a decade or two.

These sorts of deals have been useful for Microsoft as it tries to end reliance on fossil fuels and other nonrenewable energy sources. As of last November, the software giant claims it has signed PPAs for more than 10 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity including 900MW of capacity for facilities in Ireland.

It is worth pointing out that only a fraction of its emissions are directly generated by Microsoft facilities and vehicles, or are generated by the utilities that provide power to them. Vole said that the vast majority of Microsoft's emissions — 13.7 million metric tons of CO2 as of 2021 — are attributable to emissions from the purchase or sale of goods and services, the transportation of those services, and the use of those products over their lifetimes. It is not even close to becoming carbon neutral.

 

 

Last modified on 26 January 2023
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