6 projects that helped Microsoft meet its renewable energy goal
From solar farms in Australia to hydroelectric power plants in the U.S., renewable energy projects are making more electricity available to homes, businesses and industries around the world. Microsoft plays a role in this transition by using its purchasing power to help bring renewable energy projects online.
Today Microsoft announced it has met its 2025 renewable energy goal — first announced in 2020 — of purchasing enough renewable energy to match 100% of the electricity used by all its datacenters, buildings and campuses by 2025.
Microsoft has contracted to add 40 gigawatts of renewable energy to the grid — the vast global infrastructure that keeps electricity flowing from power plants via high-voltage lines and local networks to datacenters and local communities. Of that contracted volume, 19 gigawatts of renewable energy are now online.
Microsoft and other corporate renewable energy buyers enter into contracts known as power purchase agreements (PPAs) to help power plant developers bring new projects forward. These are typically 10- to 15-year commitments that enable developers to build new power plants and in exchange provide them with predictable returns that make their investments feasible.
Meeting Microsoft’s renewable energy targets requires different strategies, each tailored to local geographies, community needs and regulatory frameworks. Below is a look at six companies across the globe that helped Microsoft meet its commitment to match 100% of its electricity use in datacenters and other operations with renewable energy purchases by 2025.
Sol Systems: Advancing community investment and sustainable agriculture through dual-use solar farms
Grain is growing in southwestern Illinois, but it’s not your typical farm. Instead, the hardy grain has been planted in neat rows underneath a huge array of solar panels built to generate 270 megawatts of solar energy at peak sunlight.
Located in the rural farming town of Eldorado, Illinois, this unique energy farm is the result of a power purchase and community investment agreement between Sol Systems and Microsoft that is expected to add over 500 megawatts of solar energy to the grid from sites in Illinois, Ohio and Texas. The agreement includes an innovative investment fund, expected to be $50 million for the next 20 years, designed to benefit the local communities.
In Eldorado, that includes educational initiatives that range from a virtual reality welding simulator to hydroponic garden towers, bringing a full hands-on experience and career exposure to elementary school students, and a state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse cooperative at Eldorado High School, providing job skills and fresh produce for the local school lunch program. Two other dual-use solar projects under the Sol Systems-Microsoft agreement in Illinois feature grazing sheep and other sustainable land management initiatives, like pollinator habitat and specialty crop farming.
Yuri Horwitz, chief executive of Sol Systems since its founding in 2008, said he hopes its agreement with Microsoft can be a blueprint for community investment between energy buyers and renewable energy producers to fuel long-term economic and environmental impact.
Prior to the work in Eldorado, the funding helped Bright Solar Futures, an early career education program established by the Philadelphia Energy Authority to develop and implement a curriculum for high school students interested in solar careers. It also enabled trainees at PowerCorps PHL, which focuses on training 18- to 26-year-olds in the Philadelphia metropolitan area to earn their OSHA 30 certificates, an essential certificate in the energy industry.
“From the beginning, our goal with Microsoft was to show what’s possible when energy buyers and developers work hand-in-hand with local communities,” Horwitz said. “These projects are designed to produce power but, just as importantly, to create opportunity, trust and lasting value in the places where they’re built.”
The grain growing on the Eldorado solar farm, called Kernza®, is a type of hardy perennial grain developed by The Land Institute. It is renowned for its nutty flavor and deep root systems, which both improve soil health and serve as a natural carbon storage system.
Sol Systems leases the land for its solar farm operations from farmers and other local landowners, to be returned to farming upon decommissioning of the solar project.
Incorporating agriculture allows for continued and sustainable use of the land.
“We think of ourselves as stewards of the land beneath our projects. We hope to one day give this land back to the community with rich and healthy soils to enable continued farming,” he said.
Brookfield: Bringing renewable power to the grid at scale
When the Hawk’s Nest hydroelectric plant in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, first began generating electricity in 1936, it was considered a remarkable engineering feat because of its sheer size and the difficulty of digging out a water-diversion tunnel deep inside a mountain. Historically, the plant powered a nearby industrial manufacturing facility and was never connected directly to the broader grid.
With energy demand surging, plant owner Brookfield is working to bring the facility into the modern age and for the first time deliver a portion of its power into the local utility grid, bringing new capacity online to support the broader electricity needs of the community.
“With the benefit of our offtake agreement with Microsoft, we’ve made major investments over the last five years to ensure that an asset that’s been around for nearly 100 years will continue for the next 100 years,” said Stephen Gallagher, chief executive officer of North American operations for Brookfield’s renewable group. Microsoft expects to begin receiving power from the Hawk’s Nest plant next year.
The West Virginia facility is one of many projects that Brookfield is developing as part of an agreement with Microsoft to deliver over 10.5 gigawatts of renewable power capacity. The Brookfield portfolio contracted to Microsoft includes the Aspen Road solar farm in Pennsylvania and the Jones Farm and Egypt Road solar projects in Maryland, each of which include wildlife corridors and pollinator habits. These projects were specifically structured to not impact prime farmland and offer local landowners the opportunity to preserve large open tracts of land once the projects are decommissioned. The companies are initially focused on building capacity in the U.S. and Europe, with the opportunity to expand to other parts of the world.
Brookfield works closely with local and regional utilities to address the ongoing challenge of grid upgrades needed to integrate more solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy and reduce bottlenecks. “All of us are struggling with the timelines it takes to connect to the grid,” said Gallagher. Even before construction can begin, energy producers must navigate the lengthy permissions and engineering studies required by regional utilities, a process that typically takes five to seven years for solar and even longer for wind projects. Construction itself may last 12 to 18 months.
Brookfield also looks for opportunities to leverage inventory and supplier relationships to help utilities solve supply chain issues and ease bottlenecks that often also lead to delays in connecting renewable energy to the grid. Where local regulations allow, “we try to help utilities by prefunding procurement or delivering transformers or breakers earlier so they can get us on faster,” said Gallagher. “Because our pipeline is so large, we can bring projects on a lot more rapidly than others.”
Auren Energia: Operating a women-run wind farm in Brazil
Hertha Ayrton would be impressed.
Ayrton was an electrical engineer — and one of the first women to be recognized as a pioneer in the male-dominated field of electricity at the turn of the last century.
If Ayrton were to travel to Brazil’s distant northeast today, she would discover an advanced wind farm operated by women.
The wind farm is owned and operated by Auren Energia, one of Brazil’s leading renewable power companies. As part of a power purchase agreement signed in 2023, Microsoft purchases renewable energy from the 154-megawatt Cajuina wind complex, which includes the women-run wind farm. “As you can imagine, power generation, it’s mostly operated by males so it’s very different and something we are very proud of,” said Eduardo De Oliveira Diniz, director of trading and clients at Auren Energia. Recruiting and training the staff was done with an institution focused on workforce development and innovation for Brazilian industry.
Brazil’s remote northeast has become a hub for renewable energy due to its high winds and vast open land. Auren has invested heavily in roads and clean-water access for the more than 200 people who live around and sometimes work for the wind farm complex. It also provides support for nearby schools and construction jobs during site buildouts. The PPA made the project and its related community benefits possible, said Diniz.
Historically, Brazil’s large network of rivers and intense rainy season made hydroelectricity Brazil’s main energy source, but in the last few years wind and solar have grown rapidly as costs have fallen, said Diniz. Auren dispatches energy within the national energy grid that delivers power generated in the north to population centers over 1,300 miles away in the southeast. The project feeds into the broader grid that Microsoft datacenters are connected to.
“Auren has a 100% renewable energy portfolio with a strategically complementary mix of sources between hydro, wind and solar generation,” said Diniz. “We really believe in the power of our portfolio.”
FRV Australia: The importance of knowing your neighbors
After the construction staff of a new solar energy facility in New South Wales, Australia, finished unpacking tens of thousands of solar panels, a local nonprofit group received an unexpected offer: Would the group have any use for the empty wood pallets used to transport over 700,000 panels on their journey to southeast Australia?
In fact, they did, recycling the wood frames into handmade toys later sold to benefit local charities.
“It may sound silly, but it made a big impact,” said Michael Steiner, chief business development officer at FRV Australia, part of the Fotowatio Renewable Ventures energy company. It was, he said, an example of the importance of making time to get to know your community.
The Walla Walla solar facility is a 300-megawatt project located in east Australia. FRV Australia signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft to provide renewable energy from Walla Walla, which also supports the regional government’s economic and renewable energy goals. The Microsoft contract was “the fundamental ingredient for making such a project a reality,” said Steiner.
The Walla Walla solar farm is also part of a much larger effort across Australia to transition to renewable energy. “Replacing 14 gigawatts of coal-fired generation in the next 10 years is a humongous task,” said Steiner.
The vast facility, where sheep still graze across the landscape, covers 605 hectares and will produce enough solar energy to power more than 90,000 New South Wales homes annually. Construction generated roughly 350 local jobs before it was completed in the fall of 2025. One advantage of the site location was its proximity to the existing national electricity grid, which allowed the solar facility to deliver power using an existing transmission line easement.
The agricultural landscape, like nearly all of rural Australia, is naturally at risk of fire. FRV worked closely with the local community on strict fire prevention standards and plans. FRV also provided funding for local infrastructure improvements, including the restoration of Walla Walla Memorial Hall, which will preserve a valuable piece of local heritage and provide a versatile space for community events and activities. Additionally, these funds will be used for upgrades to local community infrastructure and playground and swimming pool facilities. Steiner said FRV will continue to engage with the local government to fund deserving community initiatives over the life of the solar facility.
“We need to create this trust and engagement from day one on every project that we do,” said Steiner. “If you don’t, you will not get anywhere, and your project probably will fail before you even start building.”
ENGIE: Repowering renewable energy assets boosts capacity and reduces environmental impact
A wind farm in southern France is generating twice as much renewable energy for the French power grid thanks to a repowering that is supported by a power purchase agreement between Microsoft and ENGIE, a multinational company based in France focused on low-carbon energy solutions.
The wind farm is located in the historical town of Fitou, known for its red wines and high winds, making it a favorite for wind and kite surfers.
The makeover of the Fitou wind farm after 22 years of wind power production involved the careful dismantling of the wind farm’s foundations, turbines and blades and replacing them with more powerful and efficient parts. The process, known as “repowering,” helps increase energy production without occupying additional land. According to ENGIE, the upgrade nearly doubled the site’s total capacity.
The project recycled and reused as many parts as possible and drew from nearly two decades of operational insights to reduce the repowered wind farm’s impact on the local environment and wildlife. For example, the updated wind farm includes sensors that automatically slow down blades when birds are detected nearby.
“We enhanced our longstanding biodiversity and noise management measures with the latest technologies and an AI tool,” said Katrin Fuhrmann, managing director for ENGIE’s B-to-B activities in Central Europe.
Besides boosting energy production, ENGIE has used novel methods for engaging the community around other wind farms in its portfolio, including crowdfunding to give local residents a chance to become co-owners of the Landes de Couesme complex, also in France.
More broadly, ENGIE and Microsoft have built a long‑term, strategic collaboration centered on renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs). These contracts allow Microsoft to secure additional renewable electricity while giving ENGIE the long‑term visibility needed to develop new wind and solar assets across Europe. Together, the two companies have already enabled the development of 26 renewable energy projects in France and seven in Germany, representing 416 megawatts of renewable capacity currently online. This approach, grounded in innovation and decarbonization, is accelerating the deployment of low‑carbon electricity that benefits both the grid and local communities.
“Electricity consumption is increasing, and renewable production is increasing exponentially,” said Furhmann. Repowering existing plants helps accelerate the production of renewable energy by allowing producers to reuse existing sites and grid connections. “And Microsoft is helping us in developing these renewable assets,” she added. “It really is a win-win situation.”
EDP Renewables North America: Providing reliable power, benefits and income
From the prairies of Texas to rolling hills in Illinois and Ohio, Microsoft has contracted with EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA) to bring 675 megawatts of solar and wind energy online through power purchase agreements — or enough electricity to power more than 150,000 U.S. homes.
Across all these projects, EDPR NA has worked to deliver tangible benefits for the communities in which it operates — from upgrading access roads and investing in community projects to offering landowners accustomed to fickle weather, crop or cattle prices predictable income from lease payments for hosting wind turbines or solar panels on their properties.
For instance, the Cattlemen Solar II project in Milam County north of Austin, Texas, is expected to generate more than $41 million in revenue over the project’s lifetime to local governments to support public services and infrastructure, EDPR NA estimates. The project also is expected to deliver over $50 million in payments to landowners to diversify revenue and provide a steady source of income. In addition, EDPR NA has helped fund the construction of accessible bleachers at the local high school and the purchase of an emergency services vehicle for the county.
“Depending on the project and the location, we work really hard to find our place, the right place in each community,” said Kelly Snyder, executive vice president of origination for EDPR NA.
In the same way that lease payments for solar and wind projects help give landowners financial predictability, power purchase agreements executed by Microsoft can give renewable energy developers like EDPR NA revenue stability needed to finance new renewable projects at the lowest possible cost — making them more attractive for banks and other lenders to finance. In turn, those projects add cleaner, reliable power to the grid in key regions where Microsoft operates.
“As energy demand rises across the country, these agreements support investment in domestic energy infrastructure while delivering long-term value for customers, communities and the broader economy,” said Snyder.
Top image: A wind farm in Fitou, France. Photo courtesy of ENGIE.
Related links:
Learn more: A milestone achievement in our journey to carbon negative
Learn more: As the world goes digital, datacenters that make the cloud work look to renewable energy sources
Learn more: Microsoft will be carbon negative by 2030
Learn more: Advancing sustainability
Sally Beatty writes about AI and innovation at Microsoft, focusing on the company’s most cutting-edge breakthroughs and how emerging technologies are improving the lives of ordinary people. Previously, Sally was a feature reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York, where she broke news about media and marketing. A California native, Sally lived in Hong Kong in the early 1990s, where she wrote for the Journal about the societal impact of economic and political reforms and consumer spending trends. You can contact Sally at LinkedIn.