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Microsoft, GE sign agreement on new wind project in Ireland
Microsoft commitment will add
37 megawatts of clean energy to
Irish grid.
Microsoft Corp. announced a new
wind energy agreement in Ireland.
With the agreement, Microsoft will
become one of the first multinational
technology companies to support a
new wind project in Ireland.
Microsoft is entering into a 15-year
power purchase agreement (PPA) with GE to purchase 100
percent of the wind energy from its new, 37-megawatt
Tullahennel wind farm in County Kerry, Ireland. The
agreement will help support the growing demand for
Microsoft Cloud services from Ireland. As part of the deal,
Microsoft also signed an agreement with Dublin-based
energy trading company ElectroRoute; it will provide energy
trading services to Microsoft.
In addition to producing energy, the project will produce
valuable data on energy storage. Each turbine will have
an integrated battery; Microsoft and GE will test how
these batteries can be used to
capture and store excess energy,
and then provide it back to the
grid as needed. This provides
more predictable power to an
increasingly green Irish grid, by
smoothing out peaks and valleys
in wind production. This will better
enable intermittent clean power
sources like wind energy to be
added to the Irish grid. This will be the first deployment
of battery integration into wind turbines to store energy in
Europe.
“Microsoft is proud to be deepening our long history of
investment and partnership in Ireland with this agreement,”
said Christian Belady, general manager, Datacenter Strategy
at Microsoft. “Our commitment will help bring new, clean
energy to the Irish grid, and contains innovative elements
that have the potential to grow the capacity, reliability and
capability of the grid. This will make it easier to incorporate
new clean power sources like wind energy, and that
World premier of the Audi e-tron FE04 and tests
in Valencia
The vehicle that will take to the track in Season 4 has been under
development with the technology partners since November
2016. Audi together with world champion di Grassi presented the
corporation’s first purely electric racing car at the world premier
in Neuburg. The new racing car for the coming season with
the illustrious name Audi e-tron FE04 has a completely newly
developed drive train with just one gear. A progressive new
design in the primary colors of white, metallic green and black,
immediately makes the Audi e-tron FE04 stand out from other
cars. On the day of the team presentation, a new chapter will
begin in Daniel Abt’s career. Abt will officially become an Audi
factory driver and the former FIA WEC world champion Allan
McNish will become team manager of the new Formula E racing
team.
So the fourth Formula E season promises to be even more
exciting. The race series originally started with the same car for all
teams, but with each season more areas were opened up giving
teams optimization opportunities through their own innovations.
Extensive tests are currently in progress in Valencia before all
four Audi e-tron FE04’s set off on their journey to Hong Kong at
the beginning of November for the start of the new Season on 2
December at 4pm local time.
Technological support
Würth Elektronik eiSos managed to put innovative solutions onto
the race track in the past. For example, high current ‘REDCUBE’
terminals have been installed on the inverter boards since the
second season. In the third season, Würth Elektronik eiSos and
ABT Sportsline jointly optimized the backup battery for the cockpit.
The associated battery charger was also jointly developed as part
of the technology partnership. Würth Elektronik eiSos views the
fact that it can be specifically involved in the development of the
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Team racing car as an outstanding
opportunity to deploy components under extreme conditions and
to advance solutions for eMobility.
Picture: Ready to go: The Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Team
is looking forward to the new fourth season 2017/2018 of the
Formula E racing series.
New-Tech Magazine Europe l 13