Enterprise CRM company Salesforce has signed a 12-year wind energy deal for sourcing 40 MW of wind power from a West Virginia wind farm through a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA).
The electricity generated is expected to be 125,000 megawatt hours annually, which is more than Salesforce’s data center electricity use in its 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.
Salesforce aims 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 of Salesforce.
Salesforce’s core platform is 98 percent more carbon efficient on average than on-premises software. By moving to the cloud, Salesforce customers avoided emitting over one million tons of carbon in fiscal year 2015.
Salesforce aims to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050; eventually power 100 percent of operations with renewable energy and continue pursuing LEED certification for its largest office spaces and other innovative green building initiatives.
