This month, Seattle hosted the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation (APEC) Senior Officers’ and Ministerial Conferences, and Microsoft was honored to welcome the APEC member vitality ministers and their delegations to our campus for a private-sector decarbonization roundtable.
APEC’s member economies play a important position in advancing Microsoft’s and the world’s clear vitality targets. The 21 economies account for greater than half the world’s vitality demand and over two-thirds’ the world’s electrical energy technology.
Microsoft has a direct curiosity in an expanded and clear electrical grid with over 60 Azure areas working now or coming quickly, and greater than 300 datacenters throughout the globe. Over half of those areas are in APEC economies. Our cloud providers are an asset to governments, firms, and innovation throughout the planet and we require dependable electrical energy to gasoline this technological innovation in each nation we function.
Throughout this dialogue, we realized extra concerning the distinctive alternatives and challenges related to decarbonizing the electrical grid in APEC member economies and areas. It additionally offered an awesome alternative to mirror on our three high priorities on this house: including extra clear vitality to the grid; modernizing and increasing electrical energy transmission; and making certain a sturdy clear vitality provide chain.
Including extra clear vitality to the grid
At Microsoft, our long-term imaginative and prescient is to succeed in a state the place, on all of the world’s grids, 100% of our electrical energy, 100% of the time, is generated from zero-carbon sources. On the trail to reaching this imaginative and prescient, our goal is to cowl 100% of Microsoft’s load with renewable vitality purchases by 2025; which means that we plan to have clear vitality contracted for 100% of carbon emitting electrical energy consumed by all our knowledge facilities, buildings, and campuses.
Primarily based on our expertise, insurance policies that broaden market entry for company procurement may help speed up the transition to a dependable and resilient clear electrical energy grid.
We have now prioritized efforts to increase the availability of fresh vitality technology within the areas the place we function all over the world, so as to energy our rising operations, native grids, and our provide chain with clear vitality. Microsoft has signed agreements for the procurement of over 13.5GW of fresh vitality in 16 markets all over the world together with a number of APEC economies.
We’re additionally utilizing our buying energy to unlock the clear vitality alternatives of the longer term. Our latest settlement to buy fusion vitality from Helion, an organization constructing the world’s first fusion vitality plant, is a superb instance of this work. This settlement with Helion will advance the market to ascertain a brand new, environment friendly technique for bringing extra clear vitality to the grid, sooner.
Modernizing and increasing electrical energy transmission
One of many greatest boundaries to better availability of fresh vitality is that vitality grids, infrastructure planning and allowing processes aren’t match for function.
To assist the event and deployment of extra clear vitality technology, it’s important there’s a dependable and resilient transmission grid. As zero-carbon assets are added to the grid at an accelerated tempo, the community of wires that can ship that electrical energy to houses and companies should additionally considerably increase. In nearly each nation, new transmission strains face planning, resourcing, or allowing obstacles. Simplifying this course of and pondering creatively about the best way to fund new grid infrastructure will assist unlock financial alternative and development, and enhance the resilience of the grid.
An expanded grid also needs to be a contemporary grid using digital applied sciences and synthetic intelligence (AI) to establish efficiencies and enhance operations. We’re excited concerning the position that AI can play to hurry the tempo of transition, assist successfully combine new applied sciences on the grid, and improve the cybersecurity of important power-sector infrastructure.
We’re beginning to see some coverage progress on this space. In america, the Federal Vitality Regulatory Fee (FERC) just lately handed a brand new rule aimed toward shortening processes and breaking backlogs. The brand new federal rule would require grid managers to evaluate initiatives in clusters as a substitute of one after the other, with deadlines and penalties for failing to complete interconnection research on time.
Making certain a sturdy clear vitality provide chain
Unlocking this clear vitality technology and transmission construct out would require a sturdy and numerous clear vitality provide chain.
At Microsoft, we’re pursuing collaborations on this house that may assist develop this provide chain. In January, we introduced a strategic alliance with Qcells, owned by Hanwha Options headquartered in Seoul. This settlement will allow a powerful provide chain for brand spanking new renewable electrical energy capability, and is projected to require at the least 2.5 gigawatts of photo voltaic panels and associated providers – equal to powering over 400,000 houses.
Entry to inexpensive and dependable electrical energy is a important enabler of financial improvement, social welfare, improved well being and different optimistic societal outcomes. As our world turns into more and more interconnected, electrified, and technology-driven, the demand for electrical energy will proceed to develop.
Microsoft is dedicated to serving to the world efficiently transition to a clear vitality future as a primary mover, as an investor, as a buyer, and as a thought chief. By working collectively and sharing finest practices, we’ve a possibility to make this important transition and mitigate the worst results of the local weather disaster.
