Accelerating the addition of carbon-free vitality: An replace on progress

At Microsoft, we search to allow a decarbonized grid for our firm, our prospects, and the world. It’s a part of our dedication to assist a extra sustainable future and grow to be a carbon detrimental firm. We’re dedicating important assets to advancing this purpose and including carbon-free electrical energy and capability within the grids the place we function.

At present, we’re saying a energy buy settlement (PPA) with Constellation that may allow the restart of an 835 megawatt (MW) nuclear facility in Pennsylvania that was retired in 2019. This may deliver a major provide of net-new, dependable, carbon-free electrical energy to the PJM energy grid, the regional transmission group overlaying 13 states, recognizing the significance of nuclear vitality and complementing our 34 gigawatt (GW) contracted renewable vitality portfolio in 24 international locations.

As highlighted by the Worldwide Vitality Company, full grid decarbonization would require a multi-technology strategy with a broad vary of carbon-free applied sciences equivalent to wind, photo voltaic, geothermal, clear hydrogen, sustainable biomass, nuclear, fusion, vitality effectivity, and storage, in addition to transmission infrastructure to attach these applied sciences to the grids that want them.¹ Alongside our intensive work on carbon discount and carbon removing, Microsoft embraces this multi-technology strategy as a vital pathway to attaining our purpose of changing into carbon detrimental by 2030.

Carbon discount

Discover our strategy to carbon discount

As we proceed to increase our portfolio of options to speed up the vitality transition, we collaborate with governments, communities, builders, and vitality service suppliers in some ways. On this weblog, I’ll share extra about how we strategy our work to (1) form market demand for carbon-free electrical energy and (2) advance vitality coverage by means of advocacy.

Shaping market demand to speed up the addition of carbon-free electrical energy

We make use of a variety of contracting mechanisms to fulfill our objectives and safe carbon-free electrical energy, crafting modern settlement buildings alongside our giant portfolio of renewable PPAs. A number of examples:

• Our lately introduced five-year world settlement with Brookfield Renewable Companions offers a pathway for the event of greater than 10.5 gigawatts of latest renewable vitality capability in america and Europe, virtually eight occasions bigger than the most important company PPA ever signed. This settlement offers an incentive for Brookfield to construct a big portfolio of latest renewable vitality initiatives within the coming years, contributing to the decarbonization of the grid, and matched to the areas the place Microsoft consumes electrical energy.
• In Washington state, our settlement with Powerex matches hourly datacenter demand with direct deliveries of carbon-free hydro, photo voltaic, and wind energy on a 24-hour foundation all year long. Throughout the day, when our contracted renewable assets produce extra energy than wanted, Powerex takes the excess renewable energy, conserving water from hydropower reservoirs and successfully storing it like a battery. This vitality can then be delivered again to the datacenter in later hours, for instance at night time when wind and photo voltaic sources could also be offline.
• As a world firm dedicated to decarbonization on a world stage, Microsoft additionally has labored to develop renewable vitality in communities and areas that always are usually not prioritized. An instance of this distinctive strategy was our five-year framework settlement with Pivot Vitality to develop as much as 500 MW of community-scale photo voltaic vitality initiatives throughout the US between 2025 and 2029. The settlement will allow Pivot to develop roughly 150 US photo voltaic initiatives in roughly 100 communities throughout 20 states, together with Colorado, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, with every photo voltaic mission together with important group advantages.  

Advancing carbon-free electrical energy by means of coverage advocacy

Our public coverage advocacy referring to {the electrical} grid is targeted on accelerating the transition to scrub electrical energy technology, modernizing and enhancing grid infrastructure, and inspiring an equitable vitality future. A grid combine that features including and retaining agency carbon-free vitality applied sciences in addition to renewables will likely be pivotal to offering electrical energy entry throughout the globe and progressing decarbonization.

In December 2023, we revealed a coverage transient on superior nuclear and fusion vitality that highlights the significance of carbon-free electrical energy and the position superior nuclear and fusion vitality may have in a decarbonized vitality future. As superior carbon-free vitality applied sciences are developed, every comes with its personal set of concerns, advantages, dangers, regulatory dynamics, and acceptance. Our coverage priorities are targeted on advancing analysis, improvement, and demonstration initiatives; enabling secure deployment of applied sciences; and inspiring an environment friendly and efficient regulatory course of for brand new applied sciences to be deployed.

Discover Sustainable by design

Uncover extra about how Microsoft is advancing the sustainability of cloud and AI by means of our weblog collection on the subject:

¹The trail to limiting world warming to 1.5 °C has narrowed, however clear vitality development is conserving it open, IEA, 2023.