Microsoft has signed two 15-year power purchase agreements with RWE for 446 MW of new onshore wind in Texas. In most years that would be just another big corporate contract. In 2024 it stood out, because almost everything else Microsoft signed in the United States that year was solar. The question is what a wind contract does for a buyer that already has plenty of daytime power.
Key takeaways
- RWE signed two 15-year power purchase agreements with Microsoft, announced on 23 May 2024, for 446 MW of electricity from the Peyton Creek II and Lane City onshore wind farms in Texas.
- The Peyton Creek II wind farm has a capacity of 243 MW and is located in Bay City, Texas, while the Lane City wind project has a capacity of 203 MW, with construction starting in summer 2024.
- RWE will use Vestas V163 4.5 MW turbines for Peyton Creek II and Lane City, and each project is expected to contribute about $300 million to its local tax base, in Matagorda County and Wharton County respectively.
- The two Microsoft contracts expand RWE's footprint in Texas to nearly 5 GW and support Microsoft's goal of 100 percent renewable energy coverage by 2025.
- Of the 16 US power purchase agreements Enerdatics records Microsoft signing in 2024, 13 are for solar, two are for wind and one is for nuclear, and RWE's 446 MW is the larger of the two wind contracts.
Why would Microsoft add wind to a book full of solar?
Because wind and solar produce at different times. Solar output follows the sun, peaking at midday and stopping at night. Wind often keeps producing in the evening and overnight. A buyer trying to cover its consumption with renewable energy across more hours of the day gets more from mixing the two than from adding more of the same.
Microsoft's data centres run continuously. The record ties these contracts to Microsoft's goal of 100 percent renewable energy coverage by 2025. A portfolio built almost entirely on solar delivers large volumes in daylight and little after dark. Wind helps fill that gap. The RWE contracts are the largest wind volume Microsoft added in the US in 2024.
What makes these two Texas wind farms worth 15 years of commitment?
Scale, timing and a developer that is already large in the market. The two projects are new build: Lane City was due to start construction in summer 2024, so Microsoft's contracts help underwrite capacity that did not yet exist. A long-term PPA gives the developer a creditworthy buyer for most of the output, which supports financing and the decision to build.
Both projects sit in the ERCOT market, the grid operator for most of Texas, in Matagorda and Wharton counties. RWE already operates at scale there, and the two farms take its Texas footprint to nearly 5 GW. RWE has been raising money specifically for this kind of build: Enerdatics has covered the $2 billion of green bonds RWE issued for US renewables in April 2024.
How did this deal take Microsoft past 1.5 GW in 2024?
By being large and arriving early in the year. Original coverage of the RWE contracts framed them as taking Microsoft's US contracted capacity in 2024 past 1.5 GW. Leap's records support that reading. Before 23 May, Enerdatics records five Microsoft US contracts in 2024 with a disclosed capacity: 125 MW at Wheatsborough in Ohio, 127 MW at Bayou Galion in Louisiana, 408 MW at Ash Creek in Texas, and 200 MW each at Cradle and Morrow Lake in Texas. Those add up to 1,060 MW. RWE's 446 MW lifts the total to 1,506 MW.
Several of Microsoft's other 2024 deals came with a story of their own. Enerdatics has looked at the debt package behind Primergy's Ash Creek solar project, whose full output Microsoft contracted, and at the Environmental Justice PPA behind Microsoft's Hickory solar deal in Illinois.
Enerdatics' data shows 16 power purchase agreements signed by Microsoft in the United States in 2024. Eleven disclose a capacity, totalling 3,458.5 MW, of which 835 MW is the Crane Clean Energy Center nuclear contract with Constellation. Excluding nuclear, the disclosed renewable volume is 2,623.5 MW. Only Pivot Energy's virtual PPA for up to 500 MWac of community solar is larger than RWE's 446 MW among the renewable contracts. Seven of the 16 disclose a duration, all either 15 or 20 years, and none discloses a tariff. Six of the 16 are in ERCOT.
What does the deal signal for corporate wind in Texas?
It signals that wind still has a buyer in a solar-dominated market, but on different terms. Microsoft's own ERCOT book in 2024 shows the balance: five solar contracts and one wind contract, RWE's. A corporate buyer adding wind to a solar-heavy book is usually doing so deliberately, to balance a portfolio rather than simply to add volume.
For developers, that means wind projects in Texas are competing less on price per megawatt-hour of energy and more on the shape of their output. A wind farm whose generation complements solar is worth more to a buyer like Microsoft than its nameplate alone suggests.
For buyers, the RWE deal sets a reference for term. Microsoft signed 15 years here and 20 years on its other wind contract in 2024, Cordelio Power's 135 MW Crossover project in MISO. Long tenors remain the price of securing new-build wind.
Fifteen years is the shorter of the two terms Microsoft used in 2024. Of the seven US contracts that disclose a duration, four run for 15 years, including RWE's two wind farms and the Winfield, Hardin III and Hickory solar deals, while the Crossover wind, Pivot community solar and Crane nuclear contracts run for 20. The split suggests term is negotiated project by project rather than set by technology.
The open question is cost. With no tariff disclosed on any of Microsoft's 16 US contracts in 2024, the premium a buyer pays for wind's timing over solar's volume remains private.
Frequently asked questions
What did Microsoft sign with RWE? Microsoft signed two 15-year power purchase agreements with RWE for 446 MW of electricity from the 243 MW Peyton Creek II and 203 MW Lane City onshore wind farms in Texas, announced on 23 May 2024.
Where are the Peyton Creek II and Lane City wind farms? Peyton Creek II is in Bay City, Matagorda County, Texas, and Lane City is in Wharton County, Texas. Both sit in the ERCOT market.
How many US PPAs did Microsoft sign in 2024? Enerdatics records 16 US power purchase agreements signed by Microsoft in 2024: 13 for solar, two for wind and one for nuclear.
Ready to get deal-ready answers in seconds? Try Enerdatics Leap AI and access verified intelligence across M&A, financings, PPAs, projects, and energy market developments through natural language.
.jpeg)
