Microsoft has signed a 20-year agreement with Pivot Energy covering up to 500 MWac of community solar in the United States. Measured by capacity, it is the largest solar contract Microsoft signed in the US in 2024 among those Enerdatics records. Yet there is no single large plant behind it. The capacity is spread across about 150 small projects in roughly 100 communities, and Microsoft is not buying their electricity at all.
Key takeaways
- Pivot Energy signed a virtual PPA with Microsoft, announced on 8 August 2024, for up to 500 MWac of community solar projects in the United States.
- Under the Pivot Energy agreement, Microsoft will purchase renewable energy credits from the projects for a 20-year term.
- Pivot Energy will develop about 150 community solar projects in roughly 100 communities across 20 states, including Colorado, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Ohio, over five years from 2025 to 2029.
- The Pivot Energy community solar projects are expected to generate more than 1,000 GWh a year combined, with the first projects due online before the end of 2024.
- The Microsoft and Pivot Energy contract includes community commitments on diversity, workforce development, equitable community investment and energy bill savings for low-income subscribers.
What is community solar, and why does it suit this deal?
Community solar is a model in which a mid-sized solar project serves many local subscribers who do not have panels of their own. Households and businesses sign up for a share of the output and receive credits on their electricity bills. The projects are much smaller than utility-scale plants and sit close to the communities they serve.
That structure explains the numbers. About 150 projects totalling up to 500 MWac works out at roughly 3.3 MW each. Every other Microsoft solar contract of 2024 that discloses a contracted capacity, by contrast, covers a single plant of 125 MW or more.
It also explains why the projects can carry community commitments that a large remote plant would struggle to deliver. When the subscribers live near the project, workforce programmes, local investment and bill savings for low-income households reach the same communities that host the panels.
What is Microsoft actually buying?
Certificates, not electricity. A renewable energy credit, or REC, is a certificate representing one megawatt hour of renewable generation. A company that buys and retires RECs can count that renewable output against its own electricity use, even if the physical power goes elsewhere.
That is the only arrangement that fits here. The electricity from community solar projects goes to local subscribers through their bill credits. Microsoft cannot take that power as well. What it can take is the environmental attribute, separated from the energy and sold under a 20-year term.
The contract is described as a virtual PPA. A virtual PPA is a financial agreement in which the buyer does not take delivery of the power, and instead pays for the project's environmental attributes or settles against market prices. Its value to the developer is a long revenue stream that sits alongside the subscriber income, which can help fund construction of many small projects at once.
How does the deal compare with Microsoft's other 2024 solar contracts?
It is larger, longer and far more dispersed. Most of Microsoft's other US solar contracts that year tie the company to a single named plant, such as Primergy's Ash Creek project in Texas or Recurrent Energy's Bayou Galion project in Louisiana. The Pivot agreement ties it to a programme of projects in many power markets at once.
The 20-year term also stands out. Microsoft's contracts for Winfield, Hardin III and the Hickory Solar Park each run for 15 years. Hickory had already introduced a community angle: it was termed an Environmental Justice PPA. The Pivot deal extends that idea from one park to about 150 projects.
Enerdatics records 13 solar PPAs signed by Microsoft in the United States during 2024. Eight disclose a contracted capacity, and Pivot Energy's 500 MWac is the largest of them, ahead of Ash Creek at 408 MW and Hardin III at 332.5 MW. Four disclose a term, and Pivot's 20 years is the longest, against 15 years for the other three. None of the 13 discloses a price.
What does the deal signal for US community solar?
It signals that large corporate buyers now see community solar as a credible source of long-term certificates, not only a niche for households. A 20-year commitment from Microsoft gives Pivot a buyer for the environmental attributes of projects it has not yet built. That kind of revenue can make it easier to finance a pipeline of 150 small sites, each of which would struggle to attract a corporate contract on its own.
It also signals that the delivery risk sits with the developer, and that the headline capacity is a ceiling. The agreement covers up to 500 MWac, to be built between 2025 and 2029 across 20 states with different community solar programmes. The 1,000 GWh figure is an expectation for the combined portfolio once complete. How much of it materialises depends on how quickly projects clear permitting and interconnection in each state.
For Microsoft, the deal broadens what its procurement looks like. In 2024 the company also signed for single large plants in solar and, in Texas, for 446 MW of onshore wind from RWE. The Pivot agreement adds a third shape: many small, local projects bundled into one long contract.
Frequently asked questions
What did Microsoft sign with Pivot Energy? Microsoft signed a virtual PPA with Pivot Energy, announced on 8 August 2024, for up to 500 MWac of community solar projects in the US. Microsoft will buy the projects' renewable energy credits for 20 years.
How many projects are in the Microsoft and Pivot Energy agreement? Pivot Energy will develop about 150 projects in roughly 100 communities across 20 states between 2025 and 2029. Together they are expected to generate more than 1,000 GWh a year.
Is the Pivot Energy deal Microsoft's largest solar contract of 2024? Among the eight US solar PPAs signed by Microsoft in 2024 that disclose capacity in Enerdatics' records, the Pivot Energy agreement is the largest at up to 500 MWac. No price has been disclosed for any of them.
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