Microsoft, Google and Renault are among the giants that have individually swooped in about 1.5GW of output from renewable energy in a week for green power trading across onshore and offshore wind and solar.
The series of announcements is a blow to the European market for corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs), which wind and solar industry groups said last month. showed a year-on-year decrease First three quarters of 2022.
Microsoft announces largest deal in Ireland covering 900 MW of wind and solar power to power data center operations in Ireland. A multi-year deal with Statkraft, Energia Group and Power Capital Renewable Energy will allow him to meet his 30% of the Irish government’s corporate PPA target by 2030, the software group said.
Fellow US tech giant Google has moved towards output from the 100MW of the 900MW Moray West offshore wind farm built by Ocean Winds off the coast of Scotland and scheduled to be operational by 2025. Google said Ocean Winds is a joint venture with 50/50 EDPR, adding to a series of power deals the web giant has agreed with the French energy group.
A second European offshore wind company PPA came about when steelmaker Salzgitter Group acquired 50MW of output from EnBW’s 900MW He Dreiht project offshore Germany.
These two offshore deals highlight the importance of corporate off-takers as a route to sell power without government backing. While most of Moray West’s capacity is not covered by Contract for Difference (CfD) contracts with the UK Government, He Dreiht is completely unsubsidized.
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Georg Stamatelopoulos, Director of EnBW, said: Long-term PPAs secure the necessary investments while enabling energy-intensive companies to meet their ambitious climate goals. ”
Automotive group Renault’s green power raid is 350MW of output from a project run by French developer Voltaria, equivalent to 500GWh per year over 15 years.
According to Voltalia, solar power will cover up to half of Renault’s electricity consumption in France by 2027.
