Microsoft buys into offshore wind with Borssele PPA

Microsoft has agreed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for wind energy from the Borssele 3/4 offshore windfarm in the Netherlands.

Under the deal with Dutch company Eneco, Microsoft will purchase 90 MW from the 731.5-MW offshore wind project. Doing so will provide Microsoft's data centres with green power for 15 years starting in 2022.

This is Microsoft’s second purchase of wind energy in the Netherlands in the last 12 months, which brings its total wind energy purchases to 270 MW in the Netherlands, making it one of the largest corporate renewable energy portfolios in the country.

Eneco chief customer officer Hans Peters said, “Tech companies are facing the challenge to reduce their carbon footprints, mostly due to the vast energy consumption of their data centres.

“As a global leader, Microsoft doesn’t see this as a challenge, but as an opportunity to boost the energy transition. We are proud we can help them switch to a sustainable, smart and clean energy supply in the Netherlands.”

Microsoft general manager energy and sustainability Brian Janous said, “Purchasing renewable energy helps improve the sustainability of our operations and local grids. This agreement is our 14th renewable energy power purchase agreement and brings our total clean energy portfolio to more than 1.5 GW.

“The electricity generated will help support the continued long-term growth of Microsoft cloud services delivered from the Netherlands.”

Eneco said the PPA was the next step in the ongoing partnership between Eneco and Microsoft. In 2018, Eneco selected Microsoft as its preferred partner for cloud services, signing a three-year deal with Microsoft Azure, which enables Eneco to achieve the company's goals and ambitions in the area of digital transformation.