American multinational technology company Microsoft has announced the completion of its first renewable energy deal in India.

Under the agreement, the company will purchase 3 MW of solar-power from Atria Power for its new office building in Karnataka’s capital city, Bengaluru.

According to a media statement released by the company, the new deal will meet 80 percent of the projected electricity needs at the Bengaluru facility. Once completed, this project will bring Microsoft’s total global direct procurement in renewable energy projects to nearly 900 MW.

The deal is part of Karnataka government’s program to encourage investments in local solar energy operations. The state program is in line with the Indian government’s target to ramp up solar power generation to 100 GW by 2022.

Mercom had previously reported that the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) aims to make the state a model state for the development of solar sector so that an increasing number of investors are attracted to develop their projects across the length and breadth of Karnataka.

According to Mercom’s India Solar Project Tracker, Karnataka has close to 3 GW of large-scale solar installations as of February 2018, and has a project pipeline of around 1.4 GW.

“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,” Anant Maheshwari, the president of Microsoft India said in a media statement.

“We are proud to be deepening our long history of partnership and investment in India with this agreement. This deal will help us grow sustainably and supports the growth of the Indian solar energy industry, so that the entire country can more easily and reliably access clean electricity,” Maheshwari added.

This is Microsoft’s first solar energy agreement in India, and one of the first in Asia. According to Microsoft, the company recently completed a new solar agreement in Singapore.

Microsoft’s goal is to rely on wind, solar and hydro power electricity for at least 50 percent of its energy usage worldwide by the end of 2018.

Microsoft set up its operations in India in 1990. Today, Microsoft has a presence in 11 Indian cities: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune.

Image credit: Flickr

 

Ankita is an editor at MercomIndia.com where she writes and edits clean energy news stories and features. With years of experience in the news business, Ankita has a nose for news and an eye for detail. Prior to Mercom, Ankita was associated with The Times of India as a copy editor for the organization’s digital news desk. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Delhi University and a Postgraduate Diploma in journalism. More articles from Ankita Rajeshwari.