Microsoft understands that the increasing demand for its cloud services is leading to increasing demand for data centres, which require huge amounts of power to operate. They face an important challenge as a result, to scale their computing power whilst aligning with our common environmental objectives. According to BloombergNEF, Microsoft is currently the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in 2021. But they are not stopping here.
Microsoft has recently expanded on their pledge to have 100% renewable energy supply by 2025. They have committed to have 100% of its electricity consumption, 100% of the time, matched by zero carbon energy purchases by 2030 - also known as the 100/100/0 goal. To do, Microsoft need to know:
FlexiDAO’s software solution will match one of Microsoft’s Amsterdam datacenter’s hourly energy consumption with Eneco’s Dutch offshore wind.
Thanks to Eneco and FlexiDAO’s integrated 24/7 solution, Microsoft will be able to:
The learnings and outcomes of this project are constantly enabling more market participants to include 24/7 monitoring into their procurement strategies and Scope 2 reporting, incentivising adoption of 24/7 renewable energy matching at scale and fostering the decarbonization of local grids.
This pilot is matching one of Microsoft’s Amsterdam datacenter’s hourly energy consumption with Dutch offshore wind. Microsoft is a flagship customer of the integrated 24/7 solution, which is enabling Eneco’s customers including Microsoft to have access to FlexiDAO’s 24/7 renewable energy matching tools at scale.
Microsoft engaged with energy supplier Eneco and software provider FlexiDAO in order to pilot a procurement arrangement that can truly eliminate emissions from the electricity it buys for its data centres. In this pilot, Eneco is providing Microsoft with green energy not only on an annual basis, but for every hour of the day.
24/7 green energy is essential to push the energy transition since it’s about moving from offsetting GHG emissions, to fully eliminating them from the grid. This pilot project was launched to demonstrate that 24/7 carbon-free energy is possible in compliance with official energy certification schemes and to enable more buyers to have access to 24/7 solutions.
In the context of the pilot, carbon-free power is produced by one of Eneco’s offshore wind farms located off the Dutch coast. The generation is consumed by Microsoft Netherlands, and is now being matched hourly at one of its data centers.
Following the guidelines defined by the EnergyTag initiative, FlexiDAO is enabling the issuance, transfer and claim of Granular Certificates (GCs i.e. hourly time-stamped energy attribute certificates) in order to monitor and certify the 24/7 synchronicity score of the Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (CPPA) while complying with the Dutch underlying certificate scheme – European GOs – as implemented in Dutch law. CertiQ (Dutch GOs issuing body) acts as the supervising party ensuring the compliance of the claims with the Dutch GOs scheme.
In line with the recommendations provided by this guide, the metering data used for the certification will be third-party certified settlement data, provided to FlexiDAO by a Dutch regulated metering company after receiving the permission from Eneco and Microsoft.
We develop top-notch solutions for the 24/7 monitoring of a new accessible, decentralised and fully decarbonised grid.
We foster a decarbonised electrification that has a direct impact on tackling this climate emergency.
Read how FlexiDAO is helping Google on its goal to achieve 24/7 carbon-free energy worldwide by 2030.
Eneco, CertiQ and FlexiDAO carried out tests with time-based green electricity in the Netherlands for the first time.
FlexiDAO developed with Acciona the GreenH2chain®, the world's first platform based on blockchain that guarantees the renewable origin of green hydrogen.