First hourly renewable energy certificates linked to a local identifiable renewable project.
Hong Kong, Sydney, 7 November, 2022 – Asia-Pacific & Japan (APJ) hyperscale data centre specialist, AirTrunk, and Hong Kong’s major power utility, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited (CLP Power), have announced a first-of-its-kind renewable energy solution in Hong Kong that will match Microsoft’s data centre electricity consumption with local renewable energy certificates (RECs).
Under the agreement, AirTrunk will source hourly RECs from CLP Power to provide renewable energy matching at its HKG1 data centre for its customer, Microsoft, setting a number of industry benchmarks including being:
- The first-of-its-kind in the APJ region to feature hourly matching of renewable generation to data centre electricity consumption;
- The first RECs solution linked to an identifiable renewable energy project in Hong Kong; and
- The biggest RECs agreement for a data centre since the launch of the CLP RECs programme in 2019.
The solution will be directly linked to the West New Territories (WENT) Landfill Gas Power Generation Units of CLP Power, namely WE Station. WE Station is a renewable energy project making use of landfill gas, that is locally produced at the landfill site, for power generation and converting waste to energy.
AirTrunk Chief Technology Officer, Damien Spillane, said: “As we continue to power the cloud for the world’s largest technology companies, we need to manage our impact on grid stability, reliability and resilience, sustainably. Hourly renewable supply and demand matching strategies, like this project with CLP Power and Microsoft, play an important role in laying the foundation for a fully decarbonised grid across the region, while setting new standards for climate action.”
CLP Power Senior Director Customer Success & Experience, Ms Lena Low, said: “We are pleased to pioneer a brand-new hourly renewable energy certificate in support of AirTrunk’s commitment to source clean energy for data centre operations on an hour-by-hour basis.
“CLP Power is committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2050 and will continue to work with our customers to create more innovative ways of bundling our carbon offset products, to match customers’ needs so that they can achieve their decarbonisation targets.”
Each unit of electricity in a CLP Hourly Renewable Energy Certificate represents the hourly environmental attributes of electricity produced by dedicated renewable energy sources in Hong Kong generated by CLP Power. With CLP Hourly RECs, customers can match their electricity consumption with the renewable energy generated on an hour-by-hour basis, moving forward to zero-carbon operations.
Throughout its facilities, AirTrunk is collaborating with its customers to offer renewable energy options to help meet their ambitious sustainability targets. Microsoft worked with AirTrunk to source the RECs in Hong Kong, with the overall solution contributing towards Microsoft’s 100/100/0 by 2030 goal.
Microsoft General Manager Energy & Renewables, Brian Janous said: “By leveraging AirTrunk’s capability and presence in the Hong Kong market, we are able to both secure additional renewable supply in support of meeting our commitment to use 100% renewable energy by 2025, and also take a meaningful step toward having 100% of our electricity matched by zero-carbon resources all of the time in the region. We believe innovative commercial structures like this with AirTrunk will be key as we continue to move toward our 100/100/0 commitment.”
This announcement follows AirTrunk declaring its commitment to Net Zero emissions by 2030 in an industry leading approach developed for hyperscale data centre environments. More detail about AirTrunk’s approach to reducing its emissions can be found in its FY22 Sustainability Report.
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Photo caption: The WE Station at the West New Territories (WENT) Landfill at Nim Wan in Tuen Mun – Hong Kong’s largest facility using landfill gas for electricity generation installed by CLP Power and to which the AirTrunk solution will be linked.
About AirTrunk:
AirTrunk is a hyperscale data centre specialist creating a platform for cloud, content and large enterprise customers across the Asia-Pacific & Japan (APJ) region. The company develops and operates data centre campuses with industry leading reliability, technology innovation and energy and water efficiency. AirTrunk’s unique capabilities, designs and construction methodologies allow it to provide customers with a scalable and sustainable data centre solution at a significantly lower build and operating cost than the market.
A private company, AirTrunk is well capitalised to fund its development of data centres across the APJ region. In 2020, a consortium led by Macquarie Asia Infrastructure Fund 2 (MAIF2) and including Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), acquired a major stake in the business, investing alongside AirTrunk’s Founder and CEO Robin Khuda. MAIF2 is managed by Macquarie Asset Management, one of the world’s leading alternative asset managers and part of the ASX-listed Macquarie Group Limited (ASX:MQG).
For more information on AirTrunk, visit www.airtrunk.com
About CLP Power Hong Kong Limited:
CLP Power Hong Kong Limited (CLP Power) is the Hong Kong utility subsidiary wholly owned by CLP Holdings Limited, a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and one of the largest investor-owned power businesses in Asia. CLP Power operates a vertically integrated electricity supply business in Hong Kong, and provides a highly reliable supply of electricity and excellent customer services to more than six million people in its supply area.