Microsoft buys 175 megawatts of wind energy for data center

Microsoft has entered into an agreement to purchase 175MW of wind power from a wind farm in the US state of Illinois. The term of the agreement with the operator of the wind farm is twenty years.

The 175MW of green energy has been purchased by Microsoft from EDF, operator of the wind farm, and will be used by a data center of the software giant near Chicago. The so-called Pilot Hill Wind Project is not yet ready; from next year, the windmills in the park should be able to generate approximately 675GWh of energy per year, which should be sufficient for approximately 70,000 households.

With the agreement with EDF, Microsoft closes its second major deal in the field of energy generation from wind turbines in the United States. Last year it concluded an agreement with a wind farm for the supply of 110MW of power. With the deals, Microsoft says it wants to use a larger share of green energy for its data centers, while companies such as EDF dare to invest more in new parks because of the certainty of customers. In addition, Microsoft has ongoing projects based on solar energy and biogas.

With the increasing use of green energy, Microsoft is following the example of Google and Apple, among others. Google has already invested hundreds of millions in both wind and solar parks, while Apple is also developing ‘green’ data centers.