SAN FRANCISCO — Salesforce announced its first major renewable energy agreement. The company signed a 12-year wind energy agreement for 40 megawatts (MW) of a new West Virginia wind farm through a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA).

The electricity generated under the agreement is expected to be 125,000 megawatt hours annually, which is more than Salesforce’s data center electricity use in its full fiscal year 2015. The wind farm is expected to be operational by December 2016 and will deliver clean energy to the same regional electricity grid that currently powers the majority of Salesforce’s data center load.

This announcement comes on the heels of Salesforce’s recent commitments to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 and eventually power 100 percent of its global operations with renewable energy.

“Today’s announcement is our biggest step yet toward achieving our commitment to be powered 100 percent by renewable energy,” said Mark Hawkins, CFO, Salesforce. “This new wind farm will bring clean energy to the same regional electricity grid that serves the majority of our data center load and support a global transition to a low-carbon economy.”

“Salesforce is one of the leaders of the corporate renewable energy movement and we are proud to see the company move into action with this wind energy agreement,” said Herve Touati, a managing director at nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute and head of the Business Renewables Center (BRC). “2015 has proven a record-setting year, with more than 3 gigawatts of wind and solar transactions signed by corporate buyers, compared to 1.2 gigawatts in 2014. Despite this incredible success, less than 20 corporations have been active in this space since its inception. This is just a start, and Salesforce should be recognized as one of the pioneers who made it happen.”

About Salesforce

Salesforce, the Customer Success Platform and world’s #1 CRM, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way.

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “CRM.”

Derick Lila
Derick is a Clark University graduate—and Fulbright alumni with a Master's Degree in Environmental Science, and Policy. He has over a decade of solar industry research, marketing, and content strategy experience.

SEIA Celebrates Extension of the ITC

Previous article

Canadian Solar Completes Sale of Aria Solar Power Plant to Concord Green Energy

Next article

You may also like

Comments

Comments are closed.

More in News