Microsoft reveals new wind energy agreement in the Netherlands

The multinational tech juggernaut is making more efforts to reduce its carbon footprint.

Microsoft has announced a new wind energy agreement with Dutch-based sustainable energy company and wind turbine farm developer, Eneco. The new partnership will see Microsoft purchase 90 megawatts (MW) from the huge 731.5 MW offshore wind project, Borssele III/IV, which belongs to Eneco.

Eneco will provide Microsoft datacenters with clean energy for 15 years, beginning in 2022.

This latest wind energy agreement is the second purchase of renewable wind power in the Netherlands in a year. Combined with its other wind project, this brings Microsoft’s total wind energy purchases in the Netherlands to 270 MW.

This is impressive because it means that Microsoft now has one of the biggest corporate renewable energyportfolios in the nation.

“Our purchasing of renewable energy helps improve the sustainability of our operations and local grids,” said Brian Janous, general manager, Energy and Sustainability, Microsoft, in an official press announcement made by Microsoft.

“We are proud we can help [Microsoft] switch to a sustainable, smart and clean energy supply in the Netherlands. As a result, Microsoft is creating local opportunity, growth and impact while enabling Eneco to continue to invest in large-scale renewable energy projects like Borssele III/IV,” stated Hans Peters, chief customer officer, Eneco, in the same announcement.

The new wind energy agreement is the next step in the ongoing partnership between Microsoft and Eneco.

This isn’t the first time that Microsoft has teamed up with Eneco. In 2018, Eneco chose Microsoft as its preferred partner for cloud services, signing a three-year deal with Microsoft Azure. This allows Eneco to meet the company’s objectives and ambitions in terms of its digital transformation.

That being said the electricity generated from this latest wind partnership will assist in the support of the continued and long-term growth of Microsoft cloud services delivered from the Netherlands. This is one of the 54 Azrure regions announced and is part of one of the biggest and most novel cloud infrastructures in the world, according to Janous.

Additionally, Janous says that this new wind energy agreement is the 14th renewable energy power purchase agreement, which brings the company’s total green energy portfolio to over 1.5 gigawatts (GW).