Microsoft to buy 37 megawatts of wind energy from GE in Ireland

Microsoft today announced a new wind energy project in Ireland. Microsoft is entering into an agreement with GE Renewable Energy to purchase all of the wind energy from its new, 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland. Microsoft will use this energy purchase to support its cloud computing needs.

In addition, this deal also includes a pilot project on energy storage. Each wind turbine will have an integrated battery. Microsoft and GE will experiment on how these batteries can be used to capture and store excess energy, and then use it when needed. Microsoft mentioned that this will be the first deployment of battery integration into wind turbines to store energy in Europe.

Microsoft is also getting an Irish energy supply license from GE. The license will help both Microsoft and the Irish power grid, as it allows Microsoft the flexibility to easily grow and invest in renewable energy in Ireland over time. Microsoft announced that ElectroRoute will act as trading service provider for the supply company.

“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.”

Source: Microsoft