Community solar developer Pivot Energy announced it has entered a five-year agreement with Microsoft to deploy up to 500 MW of community solar projects. The projects are planned to be developed in locations across the United States between 2025 and 2029.
Over 20 years, the 500 MWac is expected to produce more than 1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, which is enough energy to power approximately 90,000 homes a year. This is equivalent to removing approximately 165,000 gas-powered passenger vehicles off the road each year, said Pivot Energy.
The agreement is Pivot’s largest renewable energy credit (REC) agreement to date. It also marks Microsoft’s first major distributed generation portfolio investment. Microsoft will purchase RECs generated by the projects for a 20-year term. By matching customer electricity usage with new renewable electricity generation, Microsoft supports its goal of reducing Scope 3 emissions by more than half by 2030.
Pivot will develop approximately 150 solar projects in 100 communities across 20 states, including Colorado, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The first projects are expected to come online this year.
“We believe the clean energy transition can and should benefit communities across the United States that have been historically excluded from economic opportunity,” said Adrian Anderson, general manager, renewables, Microsoft. “Through our work with Pivot Energy and with its commitments to driving community impact, this collaboration helps to build more inclusive, local economic growth across 100 communities while addressing the sustainability needs and opportunities within those communities.”
The agreement outlines four overarching community-centric initiatives that Pivot said it will prioritize:
1) Increasing the diversity of its subcontractors.
2) Partnering with workforce development organizations and subcontractors to train and hire local diverse talent.
3) Partnering with Sustain Our Future Foundation to invest in equitable community initiatives.
4) Increasing the energy bill savings of the community solar projects directed to low-income subscribers.
“An economy fueled by clean, distributed energy can do more than provide power at low cost; it drives growth and success in communities across the nation,” said Tom Hunt, chief executive officer, Pivot Energy.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.