Microsoft has entered into a power purchase agreement with sPower (a leading independent power producer which owns and operates more than 150 utility and distributed electrical generation systems across the US) to power its datacenters and operations for cloud business in Virginia. Microsoft’s purchase of 315 MW of solar energy is the largest corporate solar agreement in the United States and Microsoft’s largest deal to date. The deal puts Microsoft’s total of purchased renewable energy at roughly 1.2 gigawatts in its global energy portfolio.

Microsoft took a majority stake in the sPower’s project by taking 315 MWs  of the total 500 MW project generated by two new solar plants Pleinmont I and  II. According to Microsoft, once operational, Pleinmont I and II will consist of more than 750,000 solar panels spread across more than 2,000 acres, and  produce approximately 715,000 MWh a year. Microsoft believes that this kind of model could be used to allow buyers of any size or sophistication to participate in the clean energy economy and to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.

As regards its commitment to clean energy around the world, Microsoft’s goal is to increase the percentage of wind, solar and hydropower energy used by its datacenters to 50% by 2018 and 60% by 2020. In addition, Microsoft’s datacenters have been 100% carbon neutral since 2012. The power purchase agreement with sPower will enable Microsoft to put over 50% target and to  make a significant progress toward its 60% goal well ahead of schedule. Microsoft already purchases clean energy in Singapore, the Netherlands,  Ireland and the U.S. (Kansas, Wyoming, Virginia, Illinois and Texas).

It is worth mentioning that Microsoft is among 130 worlds’ biggest companies, which  have signed up to RE100, a global initiative of influential businesses that  are committed to using 100% renewable energy. sPower’s CEO Ryan Creamer said: “Microsoft’s participation is a game-changer for this project and for other buyers. Their early commitment  helped ensure that the project continued to move forward and come to fruition  at a time of regulatory uncertainty.”