The software tools aggregate and analyze real-time data on energy generated by the solar panels, demonstrating a mechanism for Microsoft and other corporations to achieve sustainability goals<\/a> and reduce the carbon footprint of the electric power grid.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to decarbonize the global economy to avoid catastrophic climate change,\u201d said Conor Kelly, the software engineer who is leading the distributed solar energy project for Microsoft Azure IoT. \u201cThe first thing we can do, and the easiest thing we can do, is focus on electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n Microsoft\u2019s $1.1 million contribution to the project builds on the company\u2019s ongoing investment in renewable energy technologies<\/a> to offset carbon emissions from the operation of its datacenters.<\/p>\n A typical approach to power datacenters with renewable energy is for companies such as Microsoft to sign so-called power purchase agreements with energy companies. The agreements provide financial guarantees needed to build industrial-scale wind and solar farms and connections to the power grid.<\/p>\n The new project demonstrates the feasibility of agreements to install solar panels on rooftops distributed across towns with existing grid connections and use internet of things, or IoT, technologies to aggregate the accumulated energy production for carbon offset accounting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt utilizes existing assets that are sitting there unmonetized, which are roofs of buildings that absorb sunlight all day,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n The project is also a proof-of-concept, or blueprint, for how energy providers can adapt as the falling price of solar panels enables distributed electric power generation throughout the existing electric power grid.<\/p>\n Traditionally, suppliers purchase power from central power plants and industrial-scale wind and solar farms and sell it to consumers on the distribution grid. Now, energy providers like SSE Airtricity provide renewable energy solutions that allow end consumers to generate power, from sustainable sources, using the existing grid connection on their premises.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more forward-thinking energy providers that we are working with, like SSE Airtricity, identify this as an opportunity and industry changing shift in how energy will be generated and consumed,\u201d Kelly noted.<\/p>\n The opportunity comes in the ability to finance the installation of solar panels and batteries at homes, schools, businesses and other buildings throughout a community and leverage IoT technology to efficiently perform a range of services from energy trading to carbon offset accounting.<\/p>\n Kelly and his team with Azure IoT are working with SSE Airtricity to develop the tools and machine learning models necessary to unlock this opportunity.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of having utility scale solar farms located outside of cities, you could have a solar farm at the distribution level, spread across a number of locations,\u201d said Fergal Ahern, a business energy solutions manager and renewable energy expert with SSE Airtricity.<\/p>\n For the distributed power purchase agreement, SSE Airtricity uses Azure IoT to aggregate the generation of all the solar panels installed across 27 schools around the provinces of Leinster, Munster and Connacht and run it through a machine learning model to determine the carbon emissions that the solar panels avoid.<\/p>\n The schools use the electricity generated by the solar panels, which reduces their utility bills; Microsoft receives the renewable energy credits for the generated electricity, which the company applies to its carbon neutrality commitments.<\/p>\n The panels are expected to produce enough energy annually to power the equivalent of 68 Irish homes for a year and abate more than 2.1 million kilograms, which is equivalent to 4.6 million pounds, of carbon dioxide emissions over the 15 years of the agreement, according to Kelly.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is additional renewable energy that wouldn\u2019t have otherwise happened,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery little bit counts when it comes to meeting our sustainability targets and combatting climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n Victory Luke, a 16 year old student at Collinstown Park Community College<\/a> in Dublin, has lived by the \u201cevery little bit counts\u201d mantra since she participated in a \u201cGeneration Green\u201d sustainability workshop in 2019 organized by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland<\/a>, SSE Airtricity and Microsoft.<\/p>\n The workshop was part of an education program surrounding the installation of solar panels and batteries at her school along with a retrofit of the lighting system with LEDs. Digital screens show the school\u2019s energy use in real time, allowing students to see the impact of the energy efficiency upgrades.<\/p>\n Luke said the workshop captured her interest on climate change issues. She started reading more about sustainability and environmental conservation and agreed to share her newfound knowledge with the younger students at her school.<\/p>\n \u201cI was going around and talking to them about energy efficiency, sharing tips and tricks like if you are going to boil a kettle, only boil as much water as you need, not too much,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/microsoft-demonstrates-how-to-increase-green-energy-one-rooftop-at-a-time.jpg\")
New business model<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/microsoft-demonstrates-how-to-increase-green-energy-one-rooftop-at-a-time-1.jpg\")
Every little bit counts<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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