Microsoft Announces Biggest-Ever Wind Energy Buy

#Microsoft on Monday said it has inked its biggest deals yet to acquire renewable wind energy to power its massive U.S. data centers. Its two new contracts represent 237 megawatts of generating capacity, bringing Microsoft’s wind power total in the United States to more than 500 megawatts, the company said. Megawatt (or 1000 kilwatts) is a standard measurement of electricity production. Microsoft MSFT 1.97% signed with insurance organization Allianz Risk Transfer to acquire energy from a new 178-megawatt Bloom Wind project in Kansas. The deal “fixes” its contracted energy costs over a long-term agreement. Second, it inked a long-term contract with Black Hills Energy to buy 59 megawatts of energy “certificates” related to two wind projects near Microsoft’s Cheyenne, Wyoming, data center site. The combined output of those two sites should produce enough energy per year to supply its Cheyenne facility with all the energy it needs, Microsoft said

http://fortune.com/2016/11/14/microsoft-wind-energy/