Eoin Doherty
Cloud Operations + Innovation EMEA Regional Leader
That’s why we’re proud to be partnering with Statkraft, as well as Energy Group and Power Capital Renewable Energy, to bring additional renewable energy on stream and help the Irish Government to achieve its climate action ambitions. This includes the development of zero carbon energy sources such as wind and solar energy.
Our partnership with Statkraft celebrated an important milestone last month with the Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Dara Calleary TD joining the Microsoft and Statkraft teams to turn the sod on Harlockstown Solar, a new renewable energy project underway in County Meath.
The 34MW solar project, which could power the equivalent of almost 9,000 homes, is one of several renewable energy projects being delivered as part of a Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (CPPA) package, which was announced last year by our Corporate Vice President, Cloud Operations and Innovation, Noelle Walsh. Under the multi-year deals, Statkraft Ireland will supply Microsoft with 366MW of clean energy from six of its wind and solar farms.
As part of our partnership, Statkraft is establishing a Community Benefit Fund that will provide grants of approximately €1.3 million over the lifetime of the project to community-led clean energy and sustainability initiatives within the local area.
CPPAs are key tools that enable corporations to procure renewable electricity directly from a renewable electricity generator. Through our CPPAs, Microsoft is helping add additional clean energy capacity to the grid.
The Government’s Climate Action Plan includes a target of 15% of electricity demand to be delivered from renewable energy CPPAs by 2030. This equates to approximately 6 terawatt hours of additional electricity generation.
Speaking at the sod turning, Minister Calleary said: “Our future is both green and digital, and how we manage data will be a crucial to our decarbonisation ambitions. Renewable energy has a really important role to play in our fight to protect the planet, and I want to congratulate Statkraft and Microsoft on this important initiative.
“Corporate PPAs have a real role to play in supporting Ireland’s renewable energy and climate targets, and I believe can be an important mechanism to support the wider system changes necessary in the electricity sector to deliver lasting benefits to households, businesses, and local communities.”
The development of the solar energy project at Harlockstown is one of many projects that are coming on stream as a result of 900MWs of renewable energy contracts that we announced last year, which is a significant contribution to Ireland’s renewable energy corporate power purchase agreement target.
As the country works towards achieving a more sustainable future, Microsoft will continue to partner with the energy sector and Government to accelerate the growth of renewables on the energy grid.
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