With Bengaluru facility, Microsoft announces first India solar energy deal
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Helping India do its part for preventing climate change, tech giant Microsoft on Tuesday announced its first renewable energy deal in the country. It will power its new Bengaluru office through solar energy. Under the deal, Microsoft will buy 3 megawatts of solar-powered electricity from Atria Power to meet 80% of the facility's power needs. The office will be operational from June.
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'Investing in solar energy good for Microsoft, good for India'
"Investing in local solar energy to help power our new Bangalore office building is good for Microsoft, good for India and good for the environment," said Anant Maheshwari, president, Microsoft India. The Karnataka government, falling in line with the Central Government's goal to ramp up solar power generation to 100 gigawatts by 2022, has been encouraging investments in local solar energy operations.
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This is Microsoft's first solar energy agreement in India
Last week, the Redmond-based company completed a solar energy agreement in Singapore. "Microsoft, like India, has ambitious commitments to use more renewable energy," said Rob Bernard, chief environmental strategist, Microsoft. Once the India deal is done, Microsoft's total global direct procurement in renewable energy projects will come to 900MW. By 2018, Microsoft aims to procure 50% of its electricity needs through renewable sources.