Microsoft has announced its largest purchase of wind energy to date with the signing of two agreements. Combined, these agreements represent 237MW of wind energy, which brings Microsoft’s total investment in wind energy projects in the USA to more than 500MW.
Microsoft has contracted with Allianz Risk Transfer (ART) to fix its long-term energy costs and purchase the environmental attributes connected with the new, 178MW Bloom Wind project in Kansas. The project is the first to use the swap solution developed by ART and designed to offset high upfront costs associated with the creation of large-scale wind projects. Microsoft is the first buyer to participate in this structure. In addition, Microsoft has contracted with Black Hills Corp. subsidiary Black Hills Energy, under a long-term agreement, to purchase 59MW of renewable energy certificates from the Happy Jack and Silver Sage wind projects, which are adjacent to Microsoft’s Cheyenne, Wyoming, datacenter.
