Volt Energy, a national minority-owned solar energy development firm, announced its first environmental justice and renewable energy initiative with Microsoft. Volt Energy will supply Microsoft with 250 MW of utility-scale solar energy, which supports Microsoft’s goal to have 100% renewable energy supply for all its operations by 2025. In addition, Volt Energy and Microsoft will invest a portion of the revenue from the Power Purchase Agreement in community impact funding initiatives, which will support programs that bring the benefits of renewable energy closer to communities that have not been significantly included in the wave of clean energy initiatives undertaken by the private and public sectors.
“It is critically important that clean energy infrastructure and economic development investments are made in underserved minority and rural communities that have been disproportionally impacted by environmental injustices and lag behind in the health and financial benefits of the thriving clean energy economy,” said Volt Energy’s co-founder and CEO, Gilbert Campbell. “It is equally important to provide access to the business and job creation benefits of the clean energy movement. We look forward to working with Microsoft to identify and invest in community initiatives to create more inclusive economic opportunities.”
This initiative represents Microsoft’s first utility-scale solar power purchase agreement with an African American energy solar development firm. This agreement further advances Microsoft and Volt’s mutual commitment to deliver the benefits of renewable energy to diverse and historically underserved communities.
“With Volt Energy, we are able to scale the impact of our renewable energy projects by working together to address environmental equity issues, ranging from renewable energy access to workforce training among underserved urban and rural communities,” said Noelle Walsh, CVP, Cloud Operations + Innovation, Microsoft.
