General Electric, Microsoft to partner on Ireland wind project
Microsoft recently signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with General Electric to purchase 100 percent of the energy from a new 37-megawatt (MW) wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland.
The Tullahennel wind farm will support growing demand for Microsoft Cloud services in Ireland. Microsoft also signed an agreement with Dublin-based energy trading company ElectroRoute, which will provide energy trading services to Microsoft.
Each turbine on the farm will be equipped with an integrated battery that GE and Microsoft will use to test their ability to capture and store excess energy, which they will then send back into the grid as needed. This project marks the first deployment of battery integration into wind turbines to store energy in Europe.
“Microsoft is proud to be deepening our long history of investment and partnership in Ireland with this agreement,” Christian Belady, general manager of datacenter strategy at Microsoft, said. “Our commitment will help bring new, clean energy to the Irish grid, and contains innovative elements that have the potential to grow the capacity, reliability, and capability of the grid. This will make it easier to incorporate new clean power sources like wind energy, and that is good for the environment, for Ireland and for our company.”
