Data centers lead global growth in corporate PPAs
In 2024, the global corporate clean energy procurement market grew strongly, with a record 68 GW of power purchase agreements (PPAs) and other clean energy procurement deals announced. That amounted to 29% growth against the previous year. Caroline Zhu and Bruno Brunetti, of S&P Global Commodity Insights, examine the trends behind these numbers.
Major U.S. corporations embracing community solar
The Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) noted that household names such as Microsoft, Google, Walmart, Starbucks, Rivian, Wendy’s, and T-Mobile are just a few of the Fortune 500 companies that have signed agreements with community solar developers.
ReNew signs 437.6 MW green attribute contract with Microsoft
This contract is expected to generate over one million units of green electricity attributes annually, contributing to Microsoft’s ambition to be carbon-negative by 2030.
Microsoft announces largest corporate procurement of renewables
Microsoft has signed on for 10.5 GW of renewable energy with Brookfield Renewable Partners. The projects might cost more than $11.5 billion to build, according to BloombergNEF.
Microsoft to purchase power from a 100 MW Amplus Solar project in India
On the road to becoming carbon negative, Microsoft increases the amount of zero-carbon electricity it’s procuring through long-term contracts.
Microsoft trials hydrogen-powered data centers
The software giant has begun testing hydrogen fuel cells as a back-up power source at one of its U.S. data centers. A 250 kW pilot system successfully powered part of the facility for 48 hours and the company is now eyeing 3 MW systems to replace back-up diesel generators.
Corporate clean energy PPAs surge globally, but India sees a drop
Year 2019 saw some 19.5 GW of wind and solar energy contracted by corporations globally through power purchase agreements, up more than 40% from the previous year’s record. The bulk of this purchase occurred in the U.S. with tech companies and oil and gas majors leading the charge. India, however, saw a drop amid rollback of attractive policies, says a new report from BloombergNEF.
Microsoft to power its new Bengaluru office using solar
Microsoft has purchased 3 MW of solar generation capacity from a solar developer, Atria Power. This will cover 80% of the projected electricity requires at the new facility.
