The world’s largest hyperscalers have the ambition to lead in the world’s transition to a zero-carbon grid by incentivizing the development of new renewable energy projects in the regions where they operate, contributing to lower-carbon grids. These corporations have made incredible investments in renewable energy by bringing tens of gigawatts (GW) of new clean energy capacity onto electric grids every year. But the same ambitious hyperscale operators know that they need to do more. While signing renewable power purchase agreements (PPA) can help offset a hyperscalers annual energy consumption the goal has shifted to operating all of their data centers using carbon-free energy. Carbon-free. Everywhere. 24/7/365.

Without a tremendous amount of planning hyperscale customers can run into major roadblocks in meeting their clean energy goals while managing risk. Virtual PPAs provide a host of clean energy benefits but they also can create financial settlement risk due to the variable nature of wind and solar generation. Merging the benefits of renewable generation with the consumption profiles of data center operation where they operate requires new and sophisticated contractual power structures.