Microsoft’s datacentre region will be powered by 100% carbon free energy from Day One. Russell Craig, Microsoft New Zealand’s National Technology Officer, shares what this investment in our technological and environmental future will look like.<\/p>\n
Microsoft\u2019s forthcoming New Zealand “datacentre region”, comprising three separate datacentres, is set to usher in a new era of tech acceleration in this country, bringing hyperscale public cloud capabilities on a scale never before seen in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
But amid the enormous excitement about what these investments will bring, it\u2019s not surprising questions are now being asked about how well our local energy infrastructure \u2013 and our precious environment \u2013 can cope with all this new development.<\/p>\n
As a business with some serious sustainability commitments \u2013 such as becoming carbon negative by 2030, and removing all historical carbon from the environment by 2050 \u2013 these aren\u2019t questions we can afford to ignore.<\/p>\n
One of our global sustainability commitments is to use 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025. For the New Zealand datacentre region, we\u2019re building to the highest possible standards from day one.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m therefore delighted that Microsoft has signed an agreement with sustainable electricity retailer, Ecotricity, to ensure our datacentre region is powered by 100 per cent carbon free energy from its opening. Microsoft will only be using Toitu net carbon zero certified electricity sourced from solar, wind and hydro.<\/p>\n
“[Ecotricity is] excited about the opportunity to support Microsoft and their decarbonisation goals. Developments, such as this, will help accelerate construction of new renewable energy sources to get NZ to a 100% renewable energy grid by 2030 \u2013 a journey which Ecotricity is proud to be leading.<\/em>” – Al Yates, Co-Founder and CEO of Ecotricity<\/p>\n And this is not where our renewable energy aspirations end. In addition, Microsoft is hoping to incentivise investment in net new generation of renewable energy.<\/p>\n As Noelle Walsh, Corporate Vice President, Cloud Operations and Innovation, wrote in a recent blog<\/a>: “Customers already benefit from the cloud\u2019s ability to provide massive efficiency<\/a> that reduces the collective carbon footprint required to support the world\u2019s compute needs. Even so, the increasing demand for cloud leads to increasing demand for datacentres, which require power, land and water to operate. We \u2013 and the cloud industry \u2013 face an important challenge as a result: scaling our computing power to progress digital economies, research and inclusive economic opportunities \u2013 while also helping to preserve the only planet we have.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\nIt’s only the beginning<\/h2>\n