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Why corporations like Microsoft are investing in renewable energy Microsoft joins the growing ranks of firms – including Walmart, Google and Ikea – that are investing in renewable energy. Do these deals make good business sense?  Ucilia Wang theguardian.com, Tuesday 5 November 2013  In a move that underlines the growing appeal of corporate investment in renewable energy, Microsoft announced Monday that it will power one of its data centers with electricity from a Texas wind farm.

The software giant has agreed to buy all of the output from the 110MW wind farm for 20 years. The project, to be built by RES Americas, will send electricity into a local grid that serves a Microsoft data center in San Antonio. Construction is set to start next year and be completed in 2015……..

as the wind and solar markets grow, thanks in large part to federal and state tax breaks and other subsidies, the cost of building and owning renewable-energy projects – along with the price of renewable energy – has steeply declined. The average long-term price for wind power to US utilities plummeted to $40 per megawatt-hour, in 2012 contracts, from $70 per megawatt-hour in 2009, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report.

Meanwhile, the marketing benefit of investing in renewables remains strong. Buying wind power or owning wind farms, for example, represents a deeper commitment to fighting climate change than simply buying credits. …..

Aside from signing power purchase agreements, a growing number of businesses also have installed renewable-energy equipment on their own properties to generate power on site. Solar panels’ smaller footprint – they sit atop unused space on roofs instead of requiring a dedicated piece of land like most wind turbines – makes solar appealing for onsite generation and use.

Corporate investment in solar energy, whether via solar-electricity purchases or onsite installations, also is growing: the top 25 corporate solar-electricity users have enabled the installation of more than 445MW of capacity in the US to date, a 48% jump from a year ago, the Solar Energy Industries Association reported last month……

as more businesses, particularly well-known brands such as Microsoft, invest in renewable energy, they help to nurture the young renewable-energy industry, lower the price of wind and solar and promote the use of clean power. And that will ultimately benefit both the public and the companies themselves.http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/microsoft-walmart-google-renewable-energy-wind-farm-solar