Microsoft has committed to a groundbreaking deal to develop 10.5 gigawatts of renewable energy worldwide, marking the largest corporate renewable energy purchase ever, as reported by BloombergNEF. This massive initiative, agreed upon with Brookfield Asset Management, aims to support Microsoft's AI developments and its climate objectives.
This deal, nearly eight times larger than the previous record for a single corporate power purchase agreement, equates to about half the renewable capacity of California in 2022. The agreement underscores Microsoft's intensive push into AI technology, which has seen the company invest over US$13 billion in OpenAI. Given AI's substantial energy demands, this renewable energy capacity is crucial for Microsoft to manage its environmental impact and meet its commitment to becoming carbon-negative by 2030.
The development of this new renewable energy capacity, estimated to cost between US$11.5 billion and US$17 billion, is scheduled to be operational from 2026 to 2030. Brookfield Asset Management plans to channel investments into new renewable projects across diverse global regions, including the US, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific, with Microsoft purchasing power from each new site.
Microsoft's broader goal is to match 100% of its electricity usage with carbon-free energy by 2030. This latest deal is a strategic part of that plan, enhancing the grid's capacity to handle the surging power demands of AI technologies. Despite the challenges of carbon capture technology, Microsoft aims to offset any remaining emissions with clean energy, leveraging solar power, which has become the cheapest source of electricity in history.
