Microsoft has announced it is entering a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with GE in a new wind energy agreement in Ireland.

The firm is to acquire 100 percent of the wind energy from its new, 37-megawatt Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland. The agreement will help support the growing demand for Microsoft Cloud services from Ireland. As part of the deal, Microsoft also signed an agreement with Dublin-based energy trading company ElectroRoute.

In addition to producing energy, the project will produce valuable data on energy storage. Each turbine will have an integrated battery, Microsoft and GE will test how these batteries can be used to capture and store excess energy, and then provide it back to the grid as needed. This provides more predictable power to an increasingly green Irish grid, by smoothing out peaks and valleys in wind production.

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"Microsoft is proud to be deepening our long history of investment and partnership in Ireland with this agreement," said Christian Belady, general manager, Datacenter Strategy at Microsoft.

"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."

Andrès Isaza, chief commercial officer of GE Renewable Energy, said: "This partnership with Microsoft expands GE's considerable presence and investment in Ireland, where we already employ over 1,500 people and in particular in the renewable energy sector. Wind is now one of the most competitive sources of electricity on the market today, and we're excited about the capability to use data generated from these wind turbines, using the Predix platform, to maximize the output and value of this project."

Microsoft is also acquiring an Irish energy supply license from GE. The supply license will benefit both Microsoft and the Irish power grid, as it allows the company the flexibility to easily grow and invest in renewable energy in Ireland over time. ElectroRoute will act as trading service provider for the supply company.

(CD/LM)