Microsoft to Buy Solar Power From Singapore Renewables Project

Microsoft will buy all the solar power from a project in Singapore as the tech giant seeks to achieve its goal of having 100% of its electricity consumption, 100% of the time, matched by zero-carbon energy purchases by 2030.

Microsoft has signed a deal with EDP Renewables, a Spain-based company, to buy 100% percent of the renewable energy exported to the grid from EDP Renewables’ SolarNova 8 project in Singapore.

The project will consist of installing up to 200 MWp of solar capacity spanning more than 1,000 Singapore public housing buildings and more than 100 government-owned buildings. This is both the largest solar project in Singapore and the largest initiative under the government’s SolarNova program.

The SolarNova Programme was launched in 2014 and is a Whole-of-Government effort to accelerate the deployment of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in Singapore.

“Building our renewable energy portfolio with EDPR ensures that we can continue to secure renewable energy supply to meet our Microsoft’s ambitious renewable energy and decarbonization goals,” said Adrian Anderson, GM, Renewables, Carbon Free Energy, Microsoft.

Earlier this year, Microsoft signed a global framework agreement to back renewable power projects that could be worth about $10 billion and buy the power that would be developed by Brookfield Asset Management.

The global renewable energy framework agreement provides Microsoft with access to a pipeline of new renewable energy capacity to support the growing demand for cloud services at home and at work, Brookfield said in May 2024.

In another effort to remove carbon emissions, Occidental Petroleum signed a deal with Microsoft last month for the sale of 500,000 tons in carbon removal credits from a carbon capture facility that Oxy is building in Texas.

Microsoft urgently needs to lower its carbon footprint because its AI push is bringing emissions to new records. The company reported a 30% increase in emissions since 2020.

The surge in AI technologies and the massive build-out of data centers in America have had the biggest tech corporations scrambling for grid connection and reliable power supply to power the technologies of the future.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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