Renewable energy infrastructure just got a big new boost.
What’s happening:
- Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced the largest ever deal by a major publicly listed company to purchase renewable energy for their cloud computing and artificial intelligence focused data centres
- The new deal is between Microsoft and Brookfield, which will see Microsoft gain 10.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity
Why it matters:
- With the recent boom in both artificial intelligence and data centres there has been a flurry of significant new investment into renewable energy sources to supply carbon free power for cloud computing
By the numbers:
- It is anticipated that Microsoft and Brookfield's renewable energy infrastructure expansion will cost somewhere between $11B and $17B USD to fully build out
- The deal between Microsoft and Brookfield is 8x larger than any renewable energy deal ever previously completed by a public company
- The electricity demands caused by artificial intelligence computing are expected to grow 10x over the next 3 years alone, based on early estimates
Going deeper:
- Brookfield will build focus on building out new solar energy and wind energy infrastructure across the United States and Europe to provide Microsoft with new sources of clean power for their data centres