Constellation, Microsoft to develop real-time technology to match customers with emissions goals

Baltimore-based clean energy company Constellation announced last week that it and Microsoft have teamed up for a five-year collaborative development of a year-round, real-time energy matching technology solution that will connect customers with the best means to meet their zero emissions goals.

According to Constellation, the solution will make for a more environmentally conscious means of matching generation capacity to customer demand, using new technology to match power needs with local, carbon-free energy sources. Current efforts tend to be based on offsetting energy use through clean energy certificates or credits annually, and little attention is paid to where it all comes from – a blockage on transparency the partners hope to course correct.

“Our new 24/7/365 real-time energy matching solution will allow customers to fully achieve their zero emissions goals,” Joseph Dominguez, CEO of Constellation, said. “This Microsoft partnership aligns with both companies’ commitment to advancing the critical transition to carbon-free energy. Our collective expertise supports customers’ increasing need to understand and reduce their carbon footprints.”

Ideally, the new service would offer customers a trackable and independently verified assessment of their sustainability, thanks to data provided by Constellation. That data will chart power through renewable and clean energy sources, along with their add-ons and enhanced technology offerings, such as battery storage, fuel cells, and hydrogen. Tracking will be proved hour-by-hour, regionally, without the need to rely on the aggregation of clean energy megawatts over time.

“In addition to collaborating with Constellation to develop the 24/7/365 solution, Microsoft will become one of its first customers, pioneering use of the new tools to intake, store, match and report emissions data on an hourly basis,” Ravi Krishnaswamy, corporate vice president of Microsoft Cloud for Industry, said. “Over time, we look forward to realizing additional synergies between the two companies to further enhance our ability to serve our customers while advancing Microsoft’s commitment to sustainability.”

As a customer, Microsoft will also purchase a portion of its clean energy supply from Constellation over the five years of their partnership. In turn, Constellation will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to develop clean energy solutions with better analytics.

This partnership also locks the corporate duo on a path toward the U.S. government’s 2021 requirement for federal government facilities to begin transitioning to 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2030. Under that order, at least half would have to be locally supplied. The government issued a Request for Information from companies interested in supplying this, and Constellation – buoyed by its partnership with Microsoft – intends to apply.