Wind energy agreement made by Microsoft

The deal is with Texas wind power and is designed to last for the next two decades.

Microsoft Corp. has just entered into its latest agreement in an effort to improve its carbon neutrality by signing a wind energy deal that would have the technology giant purchase power from a new wind farm in Texas.

The company is a massive consumer of electricity considering the nature of its business.

For that reason, it will now be purchasing power from a wind energy farm in Texas, marking the first time that the technology leader has agreed to purchase its power from a specific source. It is believed that this may soon start to develop as a trend among massive corporations in their attempt to become carbon neutral.

This wind energy deal between Microsoft and RES Americas was only just announced.

The funding for the wind energy agreement came, in part, from money that was generated from a sort of internal tax that was called a “carbon fee” that the company has been charging its various departments every time they are responsible for the production of a ton of carbon. Microsoft is also hopeful that this agreement will serve as a template to be followed by other parts of its operations worldwide. This, according to the director of energy strategy at Microsoft, Brian Janous.

Janous explained that “We’re definitely looking at this as a first of a kind, but it fits into our overall desire to have more control over our energy supply.”

The name of the wind energy project at RES America is Keechi. Its construction will cost an estimated $200 million and will involve a farm of 55 turbines. This effort will begin in December and is slated to be fully operational by June 2015. Microsoft will be purchasing all of the power – an estimated 430,000 megawatt hours – produced by this farm. This is the equivalent to the amount of electricity that would be required for 45,000 homes, but at the same time it represents only 5 to 10 percent of the total electricity consumption of the company.

At the time of the announcement, Microsoft did not reveal the amount that was being paid for the 20 year wind energy deal, but some estimates have suggested that the first year could amount to $10 million.