A milestone moment for renewable energy

When it comes to pursuing big goals, milestones matter. These are moments to celebrate, recognize progress, and acknowledge the lessons we’ve learned. They’re also opportunities to discuss the work that lies ahead. Earlier this month while in Dublin, I had the chance to recognize a key milestone by announcing that Microsoft had reached its goal of matching 100% of our annual global electricity consumption with renewable energy by 2025. 

In Ireland, I was able to see what that global commitment looks like at the local level. Through long-term PPAs with Irish developers and on-site innovations, Microsoft Ireland is contributing to our broader goal of matching 100% of Microsoft’s global electricity use with renewable energy. The same campus is using next-generation solutions—from grid-interactive batteries that support renewables to highly efficient cooling systems.  

This work builds on the datacenter innovation journey highlighted in the November 2025 Sustainably Speaking edition with Noelle Walsh, Microsoft’s President for Cloud Operations and Innovation, that focused on collective action and concrete results for sustainable datacenters. Noelle and her team are reimagining energy, water, and AI infrastructure for sites around the world. 

Today, our portfolio includes 40 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable energy across 26 countries through more than 400 agreements, mobilizing billions of dollars in private investment and strengthening the energy infrastructure needed to support the Age of Electricity. To put that scale in perspective: 40 GW of clean energy is enough to power about 10 million US homes for one year. 

This is about far more than our own footprint. The transition to a decarbonized, electrified economy depends on clean power being available, affordable, and reliable in the places where people live and work. As demand for AI and cloud services grows, so does the responsibility to help bring more carbon-free electricity to the grid in ways that create opportunity and resilience for local communities.

With that, I’ll turn it over to my colleague Bobby Hollis, Microsoft’s Vice President of Energy, to share what’s top of mind as we look ahead to building a more sustainable energy future. 

If you’re interested in more of this type of content, subscribe here to be notified every time we publish.  

As demand for electricity accelerates—driven by digital infrastructure, AI, and broader electrification—our focus is clear: decarbonizing the energy systems that power this growth. Renewable energy has been, and will remain, the foundation of that work, but reaching our carbon negative goals will also require scaling other forms of carbon-free electricity, connecting energy grids with new transmission, and investing in carbon dioxide removal. The size of Microsoft’s carbon free energy portfolio matters, but how and where we deploy it matters just as much. 

Our approach to clean energy procurement is designed to do more than decarbonize our operations. By pairing our long-term, bankable investments with local partnerships, we’re helping unlock new markets while delivering tangible benefits in the communities where we operate—from jobs and workforce training to improved air quality and grid resilience. Taking this community-first approach has also opened doors in markets where corporate clean energy procurement once seemed out of reach. By pursuing first-of-their-kind agreements and flexible, multi-technology solutions, we’ve seen how clear demand signals can help attract investment, lower barriers, and bring clean electricity online faster. 

That multi-technology approach increasingly includes firm, always-on carbon-free resources. In the United States, for example, we signed a long-term PPA that will enable the restart of an 835 MW nuclear facility, bringing net-new, reliable, carbon-free electricity onto the PJM grid. Nuclear projects like this, alongside continued investment in renewables and carbon removal, are critical to maintain reliability as electricity demand grows and to delivering new capacity to the grids in which we operate.  

One powerful example is our collaboration with ENGIE, a multinational company based in France focused on low-carbon energy solutions. Through a PPA with ENGIE, we supported a wind farm in Fitou, France, to replace decades-old infrastructure with more powerful and efficient turbines. This “repowering” process nearly doubled the site’s total capacity without occupying additional land, while recycling and reusing as many parts as possible to reduce waste. The updated wind farm includes sensors that automatically slow down blades when birds are detected nearby, helping protect local wildlife. 

Beyond Fitou, PPAs between ENGIE and Microsoft have enabled 26 renewable energy projects in France and seven in Germany, representing hundreds of megawatts of renewable capacity now online, and helping accelerate the deployment of low-carbon electricity across Europe. When done right, clean energy becomes a catalyst—for local economies, for new technologies, and for a more resilient power system overall. 

Looking ahead, we’ll continue to focus on partnerships that align climate ambition with community impact, expanding our toolkit with carbon-free energy and high-quality carbon removal. The fastest path to a sustainable energy future is one that decarbonizes the system while delivering real-world benefits along the way. 

Power purchase agreements, or PPAs, are long-term contracts, typically 10 to 15 years, between an energy buyer (like Microsoft) and a renewable or carbon-free energy developer. For developers, PPAs provide the predictable revenue needed to finance new wind, solar, and other clean energy projects. 

For Microsoft, PPAs are one of the primary tools we use to bring new carbon-free electricity onto the grid. By committing early to buy energy from wind, solar, hydro, and hybrid projects, we help ensure that those projects get built—expanding the overall supply of clean power in the regions where we operate. That’s how we’ve been able to contract 40 gigawatts of new renewable energy across 26 countries, supporting our goal to match 100% of our global electricity consumption with renewable energy. 

Today, PPAs are central to how renewable energy is being scaled around the world. When companies use their buying power to lock in long-term clean energy commitments, they help create stable markets, drive down technology costs, and accelerate the transition toward more resilient, low carbon electricity systems. 

Innovation in clean energy doesn’t always look like a breakthrough invention. Often, it’s about finding new ways to make clean power possible in places where the path forward isn’t obvious—and then proving those models can work at scale. A few examples from our portfolio illustrate what this looks like on the ground. 

• 🔋Washington, United States: Delivering carbon-free power around the clock  In Microsoft’s home state, our datacenters in Douglas County now run on 100% carbon-free electricity. By pairing new wind generation with hydropower storage, we’re demonstrating how existing resources can be combined in creative ways to deliver reliable, clean power day and night. Learn more: Microsoft and Powerex 24/7 carbon-free energy agreement 
• ⚡Japan: Opening the door to corporate clean energy markets  In Japan, Microsoft signed one of the country’s first corporate PPAs in a newly restructured electricity market. Our 25 megawatt, 20y ear virtual PPA with Shizen helped demonstrate what’s possible—contributing to more than 2 GW of corporate clean energy procurement since 2024 and helping to catalyze a nascent market for renewable power. Learn more: Shizen Energy inks 25MW solar VPPA with Microsoft in Japan 
• 🏗️ India: Expanding access through multi-technology solutions  In India, Microsoft partnered with ReNew on a 437megawatt solar and wind hybrid project, bringing clean electricity to a rapidly growing market. These projects support energy access and rural electrification while showing how combining technologies can accelerate decarbonization where it’s needed most, especially in regions experiencing both rapid growth and high vulnerability to climate impacts. Learn more: Microsoft signs 437.6MW green energy deal with ReNew 

Since our carbon negative announcement in 2020, Microsoft has contracted 40 GW of new renewable electricity across 26 countries, working with more than 95 utilities and developers through 400+ contracts. 

This month, we’re featuring a reflection from one of our renewable energy partners on the role long-term collaboration plays in scaling clean power and community benefits. 

“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. 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.”  

— Yuri Horwitz, Founder and CEO, Sol Systems  

• Learn more about our journey to carbon negative 
• Explore six projects that helped us reach our renewable energy goal 
• Read our joint report on using AI to manage environmental services