Constellation has reached a pact with Microsoft to drastically lessen one of the company’s Boydton, Virginia data centers’ carbon footprint. This groundbreaking agreement combines nuclear power’s environmental credentials and real-time carbon-free energy matching to allow the data center to be powered mostly by clean energy.
Through the deal, up to 35% of energy from nuclear sources will be harnessed for the facility, combined with newly acquired wind and solar power purchases. This agreement puts Microsoft on track to have its data center be completely free of carbon emissions around the clock, indicating that it is possible today to accurately match clean energy demand through existing infrastructures and energy progress.
Microsoft will leverage Constellation’s hourly Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) matching platform to measure the effectiveness of its performance. Constellation has developed a new retail product offering called Hourly CFE Matching to help customers achieve their green objectives, utilizing the latest software technology. Supported by its pioneering Microsoft Azure-based hourly matching CFE platform and retail structuring experience, Constellation is crafting customizable and comprehensive retail solutions for people wishing to sync their energy usage with local carbon-free energy anytime.
Jim McHugh, executive vice president and chief Commercial Officer says: “Constellation and Microsoft have been working collaboratively for several years to pioneer this technology, so it is fitting that Microsoft is one of our first hourly CFE matching customers. We are confident this agreement will demonstrate the value and impact of hourly matching in the fight to address the climate crisis.”
“Microsoft is proud to offer technology that enables other climate conscious companies to also reduce their carbon footprint,” said Adrian Anderson, general manager of renewable and carbon free energy at Microsoft. “Our collaboration with Constellation makes real-time matching of regional clean power generation and demand available to all companies that want to advance the energy transition.”
Historically, before evolution of hourly CFE matching, much of the renewable power acquired by the US companies to replace their use of fossil fuels was being produced away from where it was needed, at a different time or year. This made it challenging to be certain that clean energy was being used, leaving many customers confused about what type of resources really met their needs. Furthermore, there was very little motivation for developers to set up clean generation where energy is actually required.
