SSE Renewables and FuturEnergy Ireland announced that Microsoft has entered a long-term Corporate Power Purchase Agreement (CPPA) with the partnered utilities that will add 30MW of wind energy capacity to Ireland’s electricity grid.
The newly-commissioned Lenalea Wind Farm near Letterkenny in County Donegal is one of the country’s newest onshore wind farms, jointly developed by SSE and FuturEnergy.
The CPPA secures a sustainable route to market for the venture. Under its terms, the electricity produced by the seven Vestas V117-4.3MW onshore wind turbines at Lenalea Wind Farm will contribute towards Microsoft’s goal of powering its data centre operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025.
Eoin Doherty, vice president and EMEA regional leader for Microsoft cloud operations and innovation, said: “At Microsoft, we are committed to playing our part in supporting the decarbonisation of energy grids in markets in which we operate data centres.
“With the Lenalea Wind Farm achieving commercial operations, we are taking another important step on our journey to achieve 100% renewable energy supply and support wider efforts to add clean energy capacity to Ireland’s energy grid.”
In November 2022, Microsoft announced 900MW of renewable energy CPPAs in Ireland, of which more than 216MW of onshore wind and solar capacity have reached commercial operation. A further 250MW of capacity are due to commence commercial operation this year.
CPPAs play a valuable role in enabling the development and accelerated delivery of renewable energy generation. This is the first long-term CPPA to be jointly entered into by co-development partners SSE and FuturEnergy.
Director of CPPA at SSE Renewables, Stuart Donnelly, said: “Securing our first long-term CPPA for new onshore wind in Ireland is a satisfying milestone for SSE Renewables and our development partner FuturEnergy Ireland. We are pleased to support Microsoft’s climate and renewable energy goals, while delivering a meaningful contribution to Ireland’s energy targets and security of supply.”
The deal with Microsoft will also provide for a Community Benefit Fund of about €150,000 (£12,840) per year. A locally appointed community committee – which has already been established – will oversee the allocation of funds by way of annual grants. In conjunction with the community committee, a funding strategy to inform the structure of the fund will be developed.
Lenalea Wind Farm’s construction was completed in December 2023. The 30.1MW wind farm is now fully operational.
Mary Lynch, portfolio director at FuturEnergy Ireland, said: “”Lenalea represents the first project delivered by FuturEnergy Ireland and the very first step towards achieving our 1GW 2030 target. It is also the first of seven projects which we expect to deliver in partnership with SSE Renewables.
“CPPAs are an important part of the Irish electricity market and we are very happy to support Microsoft’s commitment to carbon-free energy targets. Such collaboration and partnerships are critical if Ireland is to meet its climate action goals. We are also looking forward to maximising the local impact of the Community Benefit Fund, which is now live.”
Data centres dictate Ireland’s electricity demand
There is a vast global demand for data centres driven by digital content and information and an increasing demand for cloud internet services and AI. Environmentally, the incredible scale of energy use by data centres means sustainability is a fundamental question in their development.
In January this year, the International Energy Association (IEA) reported that Ireland is forecast to have the highest demand growth rate in Europe for electricity demand and consumption, where it is expected to rise by, on average, almost 7% per year.
Data centres are expected to contribute hugely to this with the nation braced to see a rapid expansion in this sector. Irish data centres are estimated to have consumed around 5.3TWh of electricity in 2022, up by 31% in 2021. This is around 17% of the country’s electricity demand and almost equal to the consumption in all urban dwellings, the IEA said.
