(Credit: Pixabay)Total and Microsoft recently announced that they have agreed to collaborate to further digital transformation and support progress toward net-zero emissions.
As part of its sustainability objectives, Microsoft aims to eliminate its dependency on diesel fuel by 2030. Total, through its affiliate Saft, will support Microsoft in its development of a long-term roadmap to diesel-free operations, initially by helping Microsoft assess the suitability of various Total technologies as part of Microsoft’s portfolio of onsite backup energy assets, including:
-- Diesel genset displacement: Microsoft sees large-scale batteries as a key component on its path to eliminate dependency on diesel fuel, which is used in generators to provide backup power for datacenters. Microsoft and Total established a partnership to assess the long-term feasibility of deploying large batteries as backup power for critical infrastructure. This assessment is being carried out with the help of Saft.
-- Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Batteries play a critical role within Microsoft’s datacenter infrastructure. Saft batteries will provide additional values to help Microsoft improve its specifications to its UPS suppliers and ultimately meet its sustainability goal. Those values are energy savings, higher safety, lower Cobalt, and a self-powered monitoring system to ensure optimized system availability.
Microsoft has made a public commitment to use 100% renewable energy by 2025. Total’s ambition is to reach 35 GW of renewable electrical capacity in 2025 and then nearly 100 GW in 2030. Total will assist Microsoft to secure renewable energy through power purchase agreements (PPAs). A first PPA of 47 MW has been agreed for Microsoft’s Spanish operations.
Microsoft and Total are also working on emerging technologies critical to a net-zero pathway and digital solutions that can accelerate their adoption.
“We have an enormous opportunity to use advances in digital technology to reduce greenhouse emissions,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, in a press release.
