Microsoft and Brookfield Asset Management’s green energy arm signed the biggest corporate clean-energy purchase agreement ever announced, as the technology giant ramps up its investment in artificial intelligence.
It’s difficult to estimate the cost for 10.5 gigawatts of new capacity because development costs vary significantly by energy type and location. But if all the development was US solar farms, they would cost more than $11.5 billion to build, according to BloombergNEF. Building that much US wind power would cost almost $17 billion.
Such a dramatic forecast presents a challenge for technology companies to secure additional power supplies while simultaneously reducing emissions. Microsoft has a goal of matching all its electricity consumption with zero-carbon energy purchases by 2030.