AGL Energy has signed a 15-year renewable energy certificate agreement with Microsoft, utilising certificates from the Rye Park wind farm project in NSW under AGL’s Power Purchase Agreement with Tilt Renewables.
AGL Chief Operating Officer Markus Brokhof noted that the signing of the agreement is yet another illustration of AGL’s commitment to the transition to renewable energy.
“Supply agreements for renewable energy certificates can help to increase the viability of new renewable energy projects by providing the projects with an additional revenue stream,” Brokhof said.
Registered owners of renewable energy certificates, such as large-scale generation certificates (LGCs), can resell or surrender them to the Clean Energy Regulator to discharge their mandatory liability under renewable energy legislation or voluntarily reduce or offset their existing carbon emissions.
“We really appreciate the strong collaboration with AGL to increase our procurement of renewable energy certificates in Australia. Beyond this contract we will continue to look for new opportunities to support the transition of the electricity grid in Australia to renewable energy sources and reduce the emissions associated with our operations,” Microsoft ANZ Managing Director Steven Worrall said.
The agreement with Microsoft follows AGL’s Power Purchase Agreement with Tilt Renewables to purchase energy and environmental products generated by the Rye Park Wind Farm. The 15-year deal with Tilt provides AGL with 45% of Rye Park’s output, which is around 513 GWh per year.
As part of its Climate Transition Action Plan, AGL aims to add 12 GW of generation and firming by the end of 2035, with 6.3 GW of renewables and 5.9 GW of firming.
