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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 objectives. 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, companies, and innovation throughout the planet and we require dependable electrical energy to gas this technological innovation in each nation we function.
Throughout this dialogue, we discovered extra in regards to the distinctive alternatives and challenges related to decarbonizing the electrical grid in APEC member economies and areas. It additionally supplied an incredible alternative to replicate on our three prime priorities on this area: including extra clear vitality to the grid; modernizing and increasing electrical energy transmission; and guaranteeing 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; that means that we plan to have clear vitality contracted for one hundred pc of carbon emitting electrical energy consumed by all our information facilities, buildings, and campuses.
Primarily based on our expertise, insurance policies that broaden market entry for company procurement will help speed up the transition to a dependable and resilient clear electrical energy grid.
We now have prioritized efforts to increase the availability of unpolluted vitality technology within the areas the place we function world wide, 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 unpolluted vitality in 16 markets world wide 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 current 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 methodology for bringing extra clear vitality to the grid, sooner.
Modernizing and increasing electrical energy transmission
One of many largest obstacles to better availability of unpolluted vitality is that vitality grids, infrastructure planning and allowing processes aren’t match for objective.
To help the event and deployment of further clear vitality technology, it’s important there’s a dependable and resilient transmission grid. As zero-carbon sources are added to the grid at an accelerated tempo, the community of wires that may ship that electrical energy to houses and companies should additionally considerably increase. In virtually each nation, new transmission traces face planning, resourcing, or allowing obstacles. Simplifying this course of and considering creatively about find out how to fund new grid infrastructure will assist unlock financial alternative and progress, and enhance the resilience of the grid.
An expanded grid must also be a contemporary grid using digital applied sciences and synthetic intelligence (AI) to establish efficiencies and enhance operations. We’re excited in regards to 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 the USA, the Federal Vitality Regulatory Fee (FERC) just lately handed a brand new rule geared 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 various clear vitality provide chain.
At Microsoft, we’re pursuing collaborations on this area 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 very 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 constructive 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 have now a possibility to make this important transition and mitigate the worst results of the local weather disaster.
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