Microsoft To Invest In Texas Wind Farm

The technology revolution of the past several decades has spun into a clean technology revolution which has itself integrated with the industry leaders of the original technological revolution. Any number of companies have created and integrated ‘clean’ divisions, while other companies — like IBM and Google — have made concerted efforts to invest in clean energy, as well as integrate efficient and clean technologies into their day-to-day business.

Another such company is Microsoft, who recently announced that they had invested in the Texas Keechi Wind Farm project, a 110 MW power plant set to be operating by 2015. Microsoft announced on their blog that they had committed to a 20-year power purchase agreement with RES Americas — the energy developer behind the Keechi project — to buy 100% of the electricity generated from the Keechi Wind Farm.

As Microsoft notes, “from the time you wake up in the morning until you rest your weary eyes at night, you do things that consume power.”

BZZZZ. Turn off the alarm. Turn on the lights. Brew some coffee. Turn on the TV. Recharge your phone. Turn on the computer. Turn on the AC or heat. Surf the Internet. Heat some leftovers in the microwave. Watch more TV. Do laundry. Run the dishwasher. Or watch more TV. Turn off the lights — except for the one on the porch. ZZZZ.

All those things add up.

“We have a long standing ambition to move in the direction of sourcing more clean energy as a company, so over the last few years we’ve increasingly purchased something called RECs – renewable energy credits (more than 2.3 billion kWh globally) – and so this is an opportunity to go to the next stage and invest directly in green energy,” says Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s chief environmental strategist.

Such a move by Microsoft — one of many in a long line of energy efficient, renewable energy, carbon-offset programs — goes a long way to signifying the importance of investing in and support renewable energies, and implementing them into the everyday running of business.

“When influential companies such as Microsoft sign up to buy wind power, it sends a strong signal on the importance of taking meaningful action on sustainability,” says Susan Reilly, president and CEO of RES Americas, and chair-elect of the board of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). “By signing a contract to buy power from the Keechi Wind project, Microsoft is making the financing, construction, and operation of this 110 megawatt project possible. To be clear: it would not have happened otherwise. The Texas electrical grid is like a pool, and Microsoft is adding clean, green wind power to that pool.”