Microsoft Powers Up with Victoria's Largest Solar Farm

ENGIE ANZ has successfully commissioned its largest solar farm in Victoria, the Goorambat East solar farm, which will power Microsoft's data centers. The 250-megawatt solar farm is located near Benalla and marks ENGIE's first large-scale solar development in Australia.

The project is underpinned by a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Microsoft, which has invested $25 billion in Australian data centers and cybersecurity. This forms part of the tech giant's expansion in Australia, with its first Azure data centers launched in October 2014.

ENGIE ANZ chief executive officer Laura Caspari said that Victoria's energy transition is happening now and closely mirrors ENGIE's own transformation over recent years. She emphasized that as coal-fired power retires, the company has stepped forward to build the next generation of energy infrastructure, wind, solar, and batteries.

The commissioning of Goorambat East also highlights the increasing Australian Government legislation requiring data center developers to offset their power usage with renewable energy. ENGIE will commit a community benefit fund of $75,000 per year for the life of the project to help support local initiatives and deliver long-term benefits to the Goorambat and Benalla communities.