Microsoft contractors power opening of Anson County solar project

On April 21, Ever.green announced the completion of Baron, a 5-megawatt solar project in Anson County developed by Headwater Energy, which will own and operate the site. Ever.green is a clean energy marketplace that enables businesses of all sizes to engage in energy transition.

Ever.green serves as a single point of contact for the project, so the developer doesn’t have to work with five or six different companies or legal groups, Cris Eugster, co-founder and CEO of Ever.green, told the Carolina Journal. 

“We make that all easy for the developer,” said Eugster. “We are the one optic, then what we do is we fractionalize that to the Microsoft supplier community, and whatever they want, if they want to have five RECs [renewable energy credits], or they want to have 500, or 5000, we can size it to whatever they need. And so we make it easy on both sides to do that, credit is obviously another. These are long-term contracts.”

According to Microsoft’s Supplier Code of Conduct, large-scale Microsoft contractors are expected to transition to 100% carbon-free electricity (CFE) for goods and services provided to Microsoft by 2030. Microsoft suppliers, including Slalom Consulting, Centific Technologies, ImagiCorps, BDA, Eleven 11 Solutions, TASA Analytics, and Visionet Systems, signed long-term contracts for renewable energy certificates to support Baron, the Anson County solar project, in reaching its financial close and delivering on Microsoft’s CFE expectations.

With the recent cancellation of offshore wind development by the Trump administration and significant momentum behind moving towards nuclear energy in North Carolina, some energy experts see the concept of renewable energy credits as outdated.

“This project exists to sell power to the Pee Dee Electric cooperative and, more lucratively, to sell what are called renewable energy credits (RECs) to companies doing business with Microsoft,” Jon Sanders, director of the Center for Food, Power and Life at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal. “Microsoft wants to be able to boast of doing business only with suppliers powered with ‘carbon-free’ electricity (meaning free of carbon dioxide emissions). As everyone knows, that is practically impossible without using nuclear, which doesn’t count for some reason.”

But Eugster thinks the future of solar is bright.

“I think solar is in a good state,” he said. “The technology is relatively readily deployable, unlike some other technologies, such as wind or offshore wind. You know, solar can be done much more as part of the fabric of the community. It can be done in small quantities; you can put it on your rooftop. You can’t put a wind turbine on your roof. You can, you can do community solar. You can build large utility-scale solar farms. I think solar is unique in that it can really match the load at different volumes. The other thing is, solar coincides with a lot of the Southwest and the South in general. You know, usage is highest when the sun is out, and things are hot, and air conditioners are running. So, there’s a nice match. And the profile there with solar. Solar can be combined with storage to extend that profile to the evening hours.”

While Microsoft has definitely taken the lead on this, there are other collaborative energy operations similar to this across the country, according to Eugster. He said Microsoft has effectively put together a playbook for its suppliers on how to go carbon-free. 

But Sanders says the entire paradigm is misguided.

“Here’s how the RECs scheme works,” said Sanders. “The short answer is, not unlike the medieval practice of buying indulgences on the belief it frees a loved one from purgatory. The suppliers obtain electricity as usual, but then they ‘offset’ it by buying the RECs. They get ‘credit’ for the production of renewable energy sold elsewhere, the solar facility profits, the companies’ regular consumption of electricity continues (emissions and all), they and Microsoft say it counts as ‘carbon-free,’ and media dutifully report it as such.”

According to Eugster, if a supplier ceases to be in business, they are still contractually obligated to procure from that solar farm for the duration of the contract. Microsoft requires these suppliers to sign long-term contracts. Ever.green helps facilitate this process by thinking through credit issues and mitigating the risks of a long-term, complex financial agreement for both the developer and the Microsoft supplier.

“Microsoft contractors power opening of Anson County solar project” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.